The Vandals track and field squad is competing this week in the Big Sky championships down in Flagstaff Arizona. Multiple UI men and women are competing in various events throughout the meet, which will last a span of three days.
Beginning with the 60-meter dash, only one Vandal is taking part on the men’s side. Junior Cash Jones, who ran a 6.84 in the Husky Classic back on February 14. Jones is also a part of the long jump with two of his teammates.
One of his best events as he set a personal best with 7.11 meters which also took place at the Husky Classic. Freshman Jesuye Doherty is also competing in the long jump. He also recorded a personal best 7.6 meters at the Riverfront Invitational on February 6.
The women have three players running in that event. Adelyn Mitchell, Blossom Omogor and Jana Willems. Omogor and Mitchell are also a part of the women’s 200-meter dash alongside Lara Holzhauer, Rhyan Madden and Alyssa Marsh. The UI women also have a pair of runners for the longer distances such as the 400-meter dash and 800-meter run.
The men have quite a few entries in the 800-meter run with seven total runners in that event. However, they only have one participant in the mile run, senior Shea Mattson. He ran a mile in 4:09.80 at the UW invite on January 31.
The women have four runners in the mile including senior Katja Pattis who has had some high finishes this season. Both the men and women have two competitors each in the 3,000-meter run. Pattis is also a part of the team competing in the 4,000-meter distance medley.
The men’s 4,000-meter distance medley team is the same that ran a 10:09.93 at the Lauren McCluskey Invitational, the only track and field meet this season that UI hosted. They also have an eight-person team in the 4×400-meter relay, the women on the other hand just have a team of six in that event.
The men also have just one competitor in the triple jump. Freshman Shawn Twumnasi-Ampofo, whose triple jump distance of 15.28 meters leads the conference. The UI women have two competing in the triple jump. The men do have three competing in the high jump while the women just have two.
Each UI team has a few competing in the other various events as well, such as the shot put and weight throw. For the women, Mia Sylvester is a part of both those events. She won the weight throw event in front of the home crowd in the Kibbie Dome with a distance of 19.24 meters.
Finally, the last event to round out the competition will be the men’s heptathlon where UI has two taking part.
The Big Sky championships run through Saturday and can be streamed on ESPN+.