Idaho track and field split up to conquer meets across the northwest in both Pullman at the Cougar Invitational and Corvallis at the Oregon State High Performance.
Idaho Director of Track and Field Tim Cawley said he was happy with the way his team performed.
“The coaching staff is really excited that the team is coming together at the right time,” Cawley said in a news release.
“We had 19 personal-bests across all the event groups. It was fun for many of the athletes to compete in front of their friends and family. The support at the meet was incredible.”
Oregon State High Performance
Not only did a number of Vandals finish with first-place wins, but many broke meet and program records as well.
Freshman Rechelle Meade led the way in the long jump with a first place finish and a new Idaho program record. Meade broke the previous record of 6.04 meters from 2008 with a jump of 6.09 meters. This jump moves her into second place in the Big Sky Conference.
Senior Adara Winder finished fifth in the shot put with a season best throw of 13.99 meters.
Freshman Kasin Pendergrass-Anderson took third in the triple jump with a hop of 14.59 meters.
Junior Kolcie Bates had a strong day in the hammer throw with a fourth place finish with a throw of 55.11 meters. This performance moves her into fourth all-time in Idaho history.
Freshman Karina Moreland finished in second place in the triple jump to set a new personal best with a jump of 11.99 meters.
Senior Katelyn Peterson rounded out the successes in the field events with a second place finish in the high jump with a jump of 1.66 meters.
Three Vandals came out strong in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Both sophomore Andrea Condie and senior Halie Raudenbush finished the event with personal records, running 10:47.12 and 10:47.51 respectively. Sophomore Levi Wintz grabbed a new personal best in the event with a finish of 9:34.96.
Senior Nathan Stark moved himself up to eighth in program history in the 1500-meter following a 3:46.94 finish.
Freshman Mack Baxter had a strong performance in the 400-meter hurdles, running the fastest time in conference thus far with a time of 51.98 to take second place.
Sophomore Kaizer Gillispie set a personal and meet record in the 400 meters in 47.35 seconds.
The men’s 4×400-meter relay squad of Baxter, Gillispie, freshman Dean Ellenwood and senior Ian Middleton also set a meet record and won the event with a time of 3:15.87.
Freshman Ben Doucette took fourth in the 110-hurdles in 14.69 seconds.
Cougar Invitational
Sophomore Cecilia Watkins took fourth in the pole vault with a PR leap of 3.55 meters. Sophomore Reed Richardson grabbed fifth and a new PR in triple jump with a leap of 11.17 meters. Junior Christopher Black finished the 800-meters in seventh with a PR of 1:54.58.
Idaho will head to the CWU Final Qualifier May 5 in Ellensburg, Washington.
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]