Another meet record was broken this season by a Vandal track and field athlete Saturday in Pullman. The men’s and women’s teams competed in the Cougar Indoor, and 13 Vandal athletes had career-best performances.
“That’s a pretty neat stat and it’s exciting to hear,” Idaho Director of Track and Field Wayne Phipps said. “We’ve gotten after it pretty hard in practice the last few weeks, and we haven’t been competing most of our key guys. For us to do that this early in the year, it’s really exciting and I think it sets us up well for the conference championship.”
Sophomore Hannah Kiser’s 4:44.31 mile gave her first place and the meet record. The six-year-old previous meet record of 4:51.53 was held by former Vandal all-American, Dee Olson. Kiser’s time is the third-fastest in Idaho indoor history, No. 3 in the WAC and only her first this season. Throughout the season, Kiser will have plenty of chances to improve her time.
“Dee Olson ran that meet record for us in 2006, then came back two weeks later and ran 4:40 flat and ended up being an all-American … Hannah just ran seven seconds faster than that,” Phipps said.
Kiser also placed first in the 800 meter in 2:13.96.
On the men’s side, senior James Clark won the 800 with 1:54.58. Two underclassmen showed up big for the Vandals in the 400 meter dash. Sophomore Andrew Bloom finished in second place with a personal record of 49.59, right ahead of freshman Ben Ayesu-Attah, who had a time of 49.97.
“The amount of improvement (Bloom’s) made since his freshman year is incredible,” Phipps said. “At our intra-squad time trial in December he looked really good, so the times he’s running now aren’t surprising based on that, but overall he has been a pleasant surprise.”
Senior Jeremy Klas finished second in the pole-vault with a height of 17-02.75 feet. It was not his personal best, but his vault was more than a foot higher than that of the third place finisher.
Back on the women’s side, senior Erica Digby finished second in the mile in 4:53.14, nearly seconds behind Kiser. The other second place finishes for the Vandals include junior Kristine Leonard’s throw of 44-06.25 in the shot put and senior Gabby Midles’ 55-05.00 foot weight throw.
The Vandals also posted some great results in the multi-events. Senior Andrew Blaser finished first in the 60 meter hurdles in the men’s heptathlon. In the women’s pentathlon, freshman Taylor Hewett finished first in the 800 meter, senior Alyssa Covington finished second in the long jump and Johanna Hocketstaller finished first in the shot put. Hewett finished fourth overall.
“I thought it was a pretty good meet,” Phipps said. “It was definitely a bump up in competition over two weeks ago, but I think for the most part we responded very well.”