The University of Idaho track team had another successful weekend at the University of Washington in Seattle in the last regular season indoor meet of the year, where many Vandals found themselves with individual victories.
“A lot of PR’s, a lot of personal bests on Sunday, which is always exciting, always a good sign going into conference,” said Idaho Director of Track and Field/Cross-Country Tim Cawley in a news release. “I think we’re in a good place. I think we’re fine tuning some things and they’re really starting to come together. We had four wins on the day, and they just went out and competed hard. We’re really excited looking at this team, I think we have a good shot in two weeks of going out and doing some things at the Big Sky Championships.”
Sophomore Rechelle Meade took the first in the long jump with a 5.69-meter jump. Meade currently tops the Big Sky rankings in this event with a 6.17-meter leap. She is also the only athlete to clear the six-meters this season.
Sophomore Karina Moreland also won her event in the triple jump after coming off a win from last week’s Idaho Duals with a leap of 11.84-meters, taking first overall for the weekend.
Two Vandals took the spotlight in the 3000-meter event. Sophomore Kara Story took second with a personal-best time of 9:42.90. This moves her up to the top-five in the Big Sky for the event. Following Story, junior Andrea Condie finished seventh with a personal-best time of 9:48.38.
Junior Erin Hagen moved up in the Big Sky rankings in the mile this weekend after taking second overall with a personal best time of 4:56.57.
Junior Kaleala Bass ran the 800-meters with a season-best time of 2:11.84, a performance that put her in third place.
Sophomore Dean Ellenwood and freshman Jenner Higgins finished third and forth in the 800-meters with seasons bests. Ellenwood finished with a time of 1:53.26 while Higgins finished with a time of 1:53.88.
Junior Kaizer Gillspie took second in the 400-meters with a season best time of 48.18 seconds. Gillspie is currently ranked sixth in the Big sky for this event.
Sophomore Ben Doucette claimed second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.10 seconds. He currently is ranked second in the Big Sky with a season-best time of 7.94 seconds.
Idaho athletes also found plenty of success in the other field events. In the shotput, sophomore Zachary Short took first for the third time this season with a personal-best throw of 18 meters.
Junior Quinn Mitchell finished third in the weight throw with a 17.09 meters toss.
Idaho’s 4×400-meter relay squad of Gillispie, junior Rikki McCaw, sophomore Mack Baxter and junior Levi Wintz won their event with a time of 3:21.39.
Next up the Vandals will be competing in the USA Championships beginning Feb.16 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Marisa Lloyd can be reached at [email protected]