|
The University of Idaho track and field team recently finished third in the Western Athletic Conference indoor action and sent several athletes to compete at the National Indoor Championships. Now the track and field team will do what every program must to stay successful — recruit.
Vandals’ coaches have already signed nine athletes and they aren’t done yet.
The Idaho squad, which already features some of the most dominant field athletes in the country will try to build more consistency in the track end of the team.
“Right now we’re known for our field events, especially throwing events,” Idaho coach Wayne Phipps said. “Our goal was to get some distance runners and more athletes on the track side so we will have a better chance of winning a championship.”
So far the Idaho team has signed two athletes on the men’s side and seven on the women’s. Phipps said the disparity in numbers was due to a couple different factors.
“The NCAA allots more scholarships for the women’s team,” Phipps said. “We also have more players graduating on the women’s team as well.”
Of the seven women’s recruits, three will compete in distance races, one in sprints, one in sprints and jumps, one pole vaulter and one multi-events athlete.
Ellen Rouse, an Orofino, Idaho native, could provide excitement for the UI track team from the onset of her college career.
Rouse is an eight-time Idaho 2A state champion, including four individual titles as a junior in 2007. Rouse helped the Maniacs at the championships by winning the 100–meter dash, 200 meters, shot put and also finished sixth in the 100–meter hurdles.
Rouse competed unattached at the WSU Open Indoor meet in January, where she posted an 8.06 second time in the 60-meter dash. The effort was good enough for sixth overall.
Former UI athlete and current assistant coach Angela Whyte won the event at the meet with a final time of 7.59 seconds.
Also among new athletes coming to UI is Lindsay Beard — the sixth ranked high school pole vaulter in the nation.
Beard cleared a lifetime best 12 feet, 7 inches to finish third in the Pole Vault Summit. The Pole Vault Summit, a meet that is designed for “elite” pole vault athletes, showcases the best talent in the nation as nearly 2,000 athletes compete simultaneously on 12 separate runways.
This year, Melinda Owen and K.C Dahlgren represented UI at the summit. Dahlgren hit an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 13-1 1/2. Just six and a half inches better than Beard’s vault at the meet.
For the men’s team, recruit James Clark is no stranger to track and field. Clark has been competing in track since he was nine years old.
As a nine-year-old from Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Clark was an age group champion in the 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, 1,500 meters and in the cross country competition.
Clark has been selected to a number of Canadian Junior Nationals teams and was awarded the Thomas Haney Male Track Athlete of the Year award in 2005 and 2006.
While the class is strong now, Phipps said that they are still looking to sign a couple more athletes.
“We are headed where we want to go and we think this will give us a better chance of winning a championship,” Phipps said. “We are still going to sign more people, so that is going to help us even more.”
UI will have nine women’s athletes and five men’s athletes from the team graduating. Most notably will be the loss of All-American thrower Russ Winger on the men’s team and UI record holder Melinda Owen in the pole vault for the women’s team.
 Add as favorites (22) | Views: 374
|
