More endurance and speed is headed to Moscow to join the Idaho track and field program.
The first three members of the 2012 recruiting class have been announced for the Vandal track and field team. Idaho Director of Track and Field Wayne Phipps announced the signings of Marquita Palmer and Stephanie Rexus on the women’s side and Bertrand Alcaraz Garcia on the men’s side Wednesday.
Palmer is a distance and cross-country runner from Weiser, Idaho. She placed in nine Idaho 3A state meets in track and field and cross-country during high school. Palmer won an individual state title in cross-country as a sophomore in 2009 and had two runner-up finishes.
Palmer placed second in the 1,600-meter (5:15.33) and 3,200-meter (11:23.94) at the 2011 Idaho 3A state meet as ajunior competing for Weiser High School. She also placed second in the 800-meter with 2:21.79 in 2010. Palmer also competed in the 2011 USA Track & Field Junior Olympics where she turned some heads with a second-place finish in the 1500-meter in 4:38.69.
“She’s a great all-around athlete,” Phipps said. “She played basketball, she did the triple jump, she’s a 4.0 student and that’s exactly what we look for in a student-athlete, so we couldn’t be more excited for her to be a Vandal next year.”
Like Palmer, Rexus is a distance and cross-country runner from the Inland Northwest. She competed for Kamiakin High School in Kennewick, Wash., and finished fourth at the 2011 Washington 3A State Cross Country Championship with a time of 18:15.0. Rexus was also named the 2011 All-Area Female Runner of the Year and a 2010 All-Area First Team member by the Tri-City Herald.
“I think Stephanie (Rexus) will probably end up being in the longer distance events, and she really had a breakthrough year in cross-country,” Phipps said. “She finished fourth at the state meet and on top of that, she goes to the Border Clash between Oregon and Washington — two of the best states for distance runners — and finishes eighth.”
On the men’s side recruit Alcaraz Garcia is a sprinter from Cartagena, Spain. As an exchange student, Garcia competed at Buhl High School in Idaho so he is already familiar with the state. In 2009 he swept Idaho 3A individual state titles in track and field. He claimed titles in the 100- (11.02), 200- (21.79) and 400-meter (48.79) races as well as ran the anchor leg of the team’s 4×400 relay.
“He’s an amazing 400 runner, but he can also do the 100 and 200,” Phipps said. “He’ll come in with a lot of experience under his belt, so I don’t think he’s going to be intimidated at all by the Division I level. He’s already spent a year in the state of Idaho and he’s already seen the campus and he loved it, so I think the transition for him is going to be a lot easier than most international students.”
Phipps said he is excited to for the first three signees of the 2012 recruiting class but is also excited for more recruits to join the Vandals.
“For us to get this quality of signees this early in the process really bodes well for our entire class this season,” Phipps said.