The indoor track and field team went to Bozeman, Mont. from Feb.24-26 to compete in the Big Sky championships – and walked out with podium finishes for both the men’s and women’s squads. It’s the first time since the Vandals’ return to the Big Sky that the program has had podium finishes for both the men’s and women’s teams.
The men’s teams finished second overall in the conference and the women’s team finished third.
Competitors winning events for the Vandals include Grady Leonard, who finished first in both the weight throw and the shot put and took home Co-MVP honors for the event. He set Big Sky championship-record with his weight throw of 21.14 meters, and his shot put was more than a meter better than the second-place finisher.
Lorenz Hermann also won an event for the Vandals, winning the men’s 800-meter dash with a time of 1:53:14 seconds.
Other Vandals finishing top-five or better in the men’s events are: Cullen Williams in weight throwing, Jurrian Hering in the 60-meter hurdle and 60-meter dash, Caleb Hagen and Jemini Archer in the 60-meter dash, Spencer Barrera in the 400-meter, Joseph Ruddell in the high jump and Justyn Rogers in the long jump.
For the women, Hannah Ringel won the women’s shot put with a mark of 15.81 meters. Several other Vandals finished in the top-three in women’s events. Tayler LyDay finished third in the triple jump and Camryn Crouch finished second in the 200-meter dash and third in the 60-meter dash.
Olivia Martin, Aaryanna Kurucz, Prabhasha Wickramaraachchi and Franziska Stohr of the women’s 4×400-meter relay team finished second place and Katja Pattis, Kurucz, Anna Pecha and Neil Baker finished third in the women’s distance medley relay.
The Vandals hope to carry this momentum into the outdoor track and field season on March 26 in Missoula, Mont.
Teren Kowatsch can be reached at [email protected]