Another weekend at home went right for the Vandals following the Idaho Duals. Now, the track and field squad is preparing for another trip to the University of Washington.
Idaho Duals
The Idaho Duals ended in a number of positive outcomes for the Vandals, with several athletes finishing with top-marks and personal bests.
Junior Quinn Mitchell took first in the weight throw with a career-best throw of 18.22 meters, which was good enough to move Mitchell to the top-five in the Big Sky this season.
Sophomore Ben Doucette had a winning run in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.94 seconds, a personal best and the fastest time in the Big Sky this season.
Junior Austin Fred took first in the men’s mile. Fred finished with a personal best time of 4:17.43. Sophomore Fabian Cardenas took second in the same event with a time of 4:18.29.
Sophomore Kara Story took first in the women’s mile with a time of 5:02.11. Junior Andrea Condie claimed a second place in the event with a time of 5:05.36
Freshman Britt Ipsen took first in the high jump. Ipsen tied his season best at 1.95 meters. He also took third in the triple jump with a jump of 13.21 meters.
Sophomore Karina Moreland took first in the woman’s triple jump with a jump of 11.93 meters. This performance moved Moreland into second in the Big Sky standings.
The Vandals took both first and second place in the 400 meters. Freshman Nik Chappee won the event with a season-best time for 49.06 seconds, followed by sophomore Mack Baxter with a time 49.44 seconds, which was also a season best for him.
The men’s 4×400 meter relay team of Kaizer Gillispie, Baxter, Dean Ellenwood and Chappee took first with a time of 3:17.29, the best time in the Big Sky this season.
Junior Kaleala Bass placed second in the 400 meters with a season-best time of 58.38 seconds.
Freshman Tristin Bowens took third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.92 seconds.
Husky Classic and UW Open
Idaho now prepares for the teams second trip to the other side of Washington for the Husky Classic and UW Open, beginning Friday Feb. 9 in Seattle.
Idaho Director of Track and Field/Cross-Country Tim Cawley said that all though it was nice to have another chance to compete at home, there are inevitable distractions that the team will get a chance to break away from at Washington.
“We did a great job of taking tests and going to class in between things,” Cawley said. “Now we get to go as a whole team and sit around and when you’re not competing watch and support and cheer on and kind of fine tune that a little before going to conferences. This is the last kind of real meet we’ll get as a team.”
After a strong weekend at home, a number of athletes improved personal marks and advanced in the conference ranks and now Cawley said it is time to push and make more upward moves.
“We have a lot of people who are ranked well in conference or just outside the scoring positions,” Cawley said. “It is another opportunity to see if they can kind of move up and get themselves in a better situation and kind of get us in more of a scoring position where we can do a little more damage in conference.”
Nearly halfway through the 2018 indoor season, the team is starting to look ahead at the conference competition.
“Just like a sculpture, we’re chipping it away, we’re fine tuning it, smoothing the edges out, but we got a pretty good picture like you say about what that final picture is going to look like,” Cawley said.
Idaho hits the road for the Husky Classic beginning Friday Feb. 9 in Seattle.
Marisa Lloyd and Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]