Idaho athletes closed out the final home indoor meet of the season with another smattering of victories and bests.
Idaho men finished in third overall with 83 points. Eastern Washington (130) took the top place on the men’s side, followed by Montana (113).
The women finished in second with 108 points. Montana took the top spot with 133 points overall.
Junior Zachary Short earned Big Sky Conference Field Athlete of the Week for the third time in four weeks for his performance in the shot put. Short broke his own Big Sky record, set three weeks prior, with a toss of 19.01 meters to take the victory. The throw, and the new Big Sky record, was an inch and a half better than the previous record-breaking throw. Short also took fourth in the men’s weight throw.
Sophomore Cullen Williams also had a strong day in the throws, grabbing the victory in the weight throw with a toss of 17.76 meters.
On the sprints side, a number of Vandal men and women had a strong performance. Junior Ben Doucette continued to impress in the 60-meter hurdles, taking the victory in 8.09 in the finals — almost two-tenths of a second ahead of the closest competition.
The women competed well in the sprints, sweeping the top three spots in the 60-meter dash. Freshman Henrike Fiedler took the top spot with a time of 7.93 seconds. Teammates juniors Karina Moreland and Jordyn Rauer followed close behind in second (7.95) and third (7.96).
The three were close together throughout the meet, including in both the long jump and the triple jump. Moreland took the title in the triple jump with a leap of 11.96 meters, good for second-best in conference this season. Rauer was not far behind in second with a leap of 11.68 meters.
Junior Rechelle Meade took the long jump title with a leap of 5.83 meters, a new season best. Fiedler finished in second with a jump of 5.81 meters.
Several Vandals on the distance side made their mark as well. Idaho women went second through fourth in the mile, led by Malaina Thacker, followed by Kara Story and Krista story, respectively.
Senior Erin Hagen took second in the 800-meter with a time of 2:14.36 — the seventh-fastest time in conference thus far.
The squad will hit the road, splitting between the Husky Classic, the Tyson Invitational and the Boise State Challenge over the weekend.
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]