Idaho coach Wayne Phipps is already talking about the postseason, and for good reason.
In just the second week of full competition for Idaho track and field, two NCAA qualifying marks have been met. Phipps, a coach with a championship resume, said that was the goal heading into Idaho’s multi-meet weekend.
Junior Matt Sullivan earned an NCAA qualifying mark in the pole vault with a 17 foot, 7 inch vault, while senior Alycia Butterworth’s 3k steeplechase winning time of 10 minutes, 27.32 seconds also qualified her for the first round of the NCAA championships.
Both happened during the Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, Ariz., at Arizona State University, a meet that Phipps took split to take part of his team to specifically for NCAA qualifying. The other group of athletes also spent time in Spokane over the weekend at the WAR VII at Spokane Community College.
“It’s a busy time but those are two really important meets in terms of setting us up for the rest of the year,” Phipps said. “They’ve been great meets for us in terms of getting NCAA qualifying marks.”
The WAR VII resulted in two individual wins for Idaho athletes. Senior Cait Rowland earned a first place finish in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.26. A freshman took the second individual victory for the Vandals, when Kolcie Bates won the discuss throw with a distance of 141-5.
Phipps described the weekend’s meets as the competitive season opener for the Vandals, which focus early on setting themselves up for WAC Championships and NCAA qualifying marks.
Idaho competed last week at the Whitworth Sam Adams Classic in its real season opener and netted 23 individual performances with its full group competing in the meet.
“It’s something that our department really looks for is having that conference success. It’s obviously important to our program and important to the kids as well,” Phipps said. “Sometimes you know, you need to sacrifice those early meets to get top performances later on.”
The slate will be loaded for Idaho this weekend when the team will be distributed throughout four different competitions. It starts Thursday with the CSULA Twilight Classic in Los Angeles and the Whitworth Twilight Invitational in Spokane. On Friday, part of the squad will be in Azusa, Calif., for the Bryan Clay Invitational. Phipps will travel with a group to the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif., which
will go from Thursday through Saturday.
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]