Despite several athletes fighting illness, the Vandal track and field team set 14 career bests on the second day of the two-day Mondo Mid-Major Challenge in Sacramento, Calif. The Idaho women placed fourth with 97 points while the men placed sixth with 72. Utah State won both the men’s and women’s titles.
Ilya Pinchuk | Argonaut Ellen Rouse keeps here eyes focused down the field as she throws the javalin Monday in the Kibbie Dome. Rouse broke her personal record by more than five feet this weekend at the Mondo Mid-Major Challenge.
“We were still battling illness just a little bit,” said Idaho Director of Track and field Wayne Phipps. “We had a few people here who either weren’t able to run or weren’t able to get through it as well as they had hoped, but there were still plenty of very good things this weekend.”
The Vandals saw the most success in the throwing events. On the women’s side, junior Ellen Rouse’s javelin throw 145-8-feet placed her second in the event. Rouse now ranks second in the WAC by only two centimeters after throwing more than a five-foot personal record. She is also No. 6 all-time in Idaho history.
“We changed a few things with her approach, and I think we’ve started to connect with something that’s better for her,” coach Julie Taylor said. “It’s getting comfortable enough that I think she can start adding a little more speed, so there are good things ahead for her still.”
Freshman Johanna Hocketstaller also broke into the Idaho all-time top 10 with her fourth place javelin toss of 135-7-feet. The freshman from Germany also holds all-time top-10 career marks in the shot put and discus in her first year as a Vandal.
“Johanna is just an amazing athlete,” Taylor said. “She’s not able to just focus every day on one event, like the other throwers are doing. To have an accomplishment like that is a sign of her athleticism and her competitive drive.”
The men’s throwers also fared well with senior Mike Marshall posting a 10-foot career best with his 217-9-foot javelin throw. Marshall not only won the event but moves into No. 1 in the WAC and No. 4 all-time at Idaho.
Sophomore Ugis Svazs finished second in the event behind Marshall with his 215-3 throw. He is currently second in the WAC behind Marshall and No. 6 all-time at Idaho.
“I really believe that having both of those guys push each other is going to help the intensity of each of them,” Taylor said.
Sophomore Kyle Rothwell had another standout performance placing first in the hammer throw with a 192-5-foot toss.
On the track, junior Anna Kalbrener ran 4:30.19 minutes in the 1,500-meter to finish in second place while sophomore Holly Stanton broke 11 minutes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the first time. Stanton won the event in 10:56.08.
Junior Liga Velvere finished second by one-tenth of a second in the women’s 400-meter hurdles in 1:00.35 to round out the top two finishes for the Vandal women.
On the men’s side, senior Stephane Colle was the top finisher in the 1,500-meter finishing in 3:50.28 while fellow senior Andrew Blaser took first in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.38.
Competing Friday, junior Jason Lorentz placed first in the long jump with a 22-11 foot leap.
The Vandals compete in three separate meets within the next five days. The team will start back in California with the Mt. SAC Relays Thursday through Sunday and compete in the Beach Invitational Saturday. Another group will compete in the Cougar Invitational in Pullman Saturday.
“We have an opportunity to get a number of competitions in, so that’s always a good thing,” Taylor said. “It’s an opportunity to double up some distance races or get a few throws in and see what it’s like, as far as getting conditioned for a conference championship meet.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]