It was a great weekend for the Idaho track and field team as multiple Vandals broke personal records and set season bests in the final indoor meet of the season.
Junior Mia Sylvester led the Vandal women with five points in the shot put on day two and 10 in the weight throw on day three. While she didn’t PR in shot put, she broke the school record in the women’s weight throw on three separate attempts.
Her second attempt of 20.7 meters, fourth attempt of 20.05m and final attempt of 21m all broke her previous record of 20.3m. This performance led to her receiving Most Outstanding Performer for Big Sky indoor track and field
“In the record book, we have so many great throwers,” Sylvester said. “My goal was to make the record. I never knew if I could make it, so the fact I actually got it, I feel pretty proud of myself.”
Alongside Sylvester, freshman Hanna Tait also set a new school record in the 200m. Her time of 24.05 second broke graduate student Camryn Crouch’s previous record of 24.13 seconds. Tait also moved to third in Idaho women’s pentathlon history with 3,742 points.
On the other side of the team, Jurrian Herring also made history. The redshirt senior ran the 60m hurdles in 7.83 seconds, moving him into the first-place spot that has been held by Paul Dittmer’s 7.84 seconds since 2009.
“Jurrian is a great athlete,” Jerome Campbell of Northern Colorado, who won the men’s 60m hurdles, said. Campbell also handed some advice out after his run, saying, “If you focus on others, you make mistakes, and you can’t afford to make mistakes.”
While no one else broke school records, there was still a lot of movement in the books for both the men and women.
Outside of Tait, two other freshmen put their names into Idaho history. Jana Willems ran the 60m dash in 7.61 seconds to move into fifth all time. Jake Hisaw, son of former Idaho quarterback and track athlete Eric Hisaw, ran the 200m dash in 21.37 seconds to land at number five all time.
“It’s really cool to go to the same school as someone in my family and get to share that connection,” Hisaw said. “It’s really important to me, and I’m really grateful that I get to do this.”
While there weren’t any sophomores making moves into the books, there were three juniors, with two moving above themselves.
Landon Peterson was the first male athlete to move into the record books during the meet as his 4,334 heptathlon points place him in tenth all time. After him, Noah Culbertson threw for 18.05m in shot put, moving him above himself and Eugenio Mannucci as he now sits in sixth all time. Finally, Zac Bright ran the 800m in 1:48.97 to move above himself and Leroy Robinson for third.
Culbertson finished second at home in last year’s shot put, so it meant a lot to him to win it this time around.
“It’s pretty cool, and I’m just glad I’m able to do it, just do it for God. I’m very glad he’s put me here and helps me use my talents he’s given me.”
Lastly, there was one senior who used her final time on an indoor track to add yet another record time in the 400m. Prabhasha Wickramaarachchi, who set the school record in the 400m earlier this season, finished the preliminaries in 55.5 seconds, which places her at third, right between her top time of 55.26 seconds and now sixth-place time of 55.87 seconds.
She was also on the 4x400m team with seniors Olivia Martin, Crouch and Franziska Stoehr. The four of them now hold the second-best time in Idaho history at 3:41.9.
“They’re my best friends, and I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else,” Crouch said with teary eyes after the four ran their final indoor event. Wickramaarachchi followed Crouch saying, “We all had a great season, (but) we’re hungry for more. Outdoor is coming.”
Graduate student Spencer Barrera shared that sentiment about the outdoor season. Although the men placed in the top three at the indoor championships, they’re still looking to prove themselves in the next leg of the season.
“(There’s) a little bit of revenge in all of us as a whole team,” he said. “We’ve got a lot more to give. We showed grit in this meet, but we’ve got so much more to give as a team, and it’s exciting to know that even at our lowest, we can place top three.”
Idaho will look to rest up and get healthy before the outdoor season kicks off at the Buc Scoring / Combined Events meet in Spokane on March 21.
James Taurman-Aldrich can be reached at [email protected] or on X @jamesaldrich25