The University of Idaho Argonaut

The University of Idaho track and field team heptathletes will get an opportunity to showcase their talents for the first time during the outdoor season.
The team will travel to Eastern Washington this week where they will compete in the Peuller Invitational in Cheney.
The team is coming off performances at the Stanford Invitational that produced seven regional qualifying marks, five of which came in throwing events.
“Our throwers did a phenomenal job last week,” Idaho coach Yogi Teevens said. “David Holmon also did a good job too. Last year he was trying to hit that regional qualifying mark all year and he got it on the first week this year.”

UI will be taking nearly its entire team to the meet with the exception of a couple of distance runners who will be held out.
Among the athletes who will get a chance to showcase their talents are those compete in the heptathlon.
The heptathlon consists of seven events: the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin and 800 meters.
Four of the events are done on the first day of the meet, consecutively, within a half hour of each other and the final three events are done in the same fashion on the second day of the meet. Each of the events is scored on a point-based system.

The Vandals return four women athletes who placed third, fourth, sixth and seventh at last year’s conference championships. At the indoor championships this year, the athletes placed third through sixth with Darcy Collins placing a mere three points out of first place in the event.
“The heptathlon is an event where you have to be good in one or two events,” Teevens said. “But not only that, in the other events you have to be better than average.”

While the heptathletes will compete in nearly all the events Teevens said that it is very rare to do a full heptathlon during the season.
“The heptathlon consists of a lot of events and the athletes can tire really easily.” Teevens said. “They don’t have a regional qualifying mark because it is tough. You either make it to nationals or you don’t.”
The heptathlon is also unique because it is rarely done in high school.

Idaho coach Wayne Phipps said that some athletes could be ready to break out at the Peuller Invitational.
Paul Dittmer, the true freshman hurdler from Germany who ran a blazing 7.97 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles during the indoor season, put up a WAC best 14.36 in the 110-meter hurdles at the Stanford Invitational.
“Paul could have a good race this week,” Phipps said. “It depends on some things that we can’t really control. The event is run on Friday and they don’t have the capability there to turn a race around, so if you’re going into a head wind, you’re going into a head wind.”
Dittmer’s personal best in the 110-meter hurdles is 13.78.

Russ Winger, who threw the discus a school record 199 feet, 6 inches at the Stanford Invitational last week, was awarded the WAC Track and Field Athlete of the Week award for the seventh time in his career. The throw moved Winger into ninth place nationally in the event.
The Vandals will try to keep a winning tradition intact at the Peuller Invitational, as the team has 10 current or past athletes who hold meet records.

“It’s a great meet because of its very relaxed atmosphere,” Teevens said. “At Eastern they let the coaches go on the field so you can actually coach the kids, unlike Stanford where we were in the stands. It’s great to have a laid back meet where you can work through events.”
The Peuller Invitational will start Thursday and end on Friday.