MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho's Vandals won 12 events as they launched the 2017 track and field season with a two-day meet at the Kibbie Dome.
Coach
Tim Cawley applauded his younger team members for following the lead of the upperclassmen and competing fearlessly.
"There's a good fire," he said. "They came out, competed well and had fun. If we made mistakes, we were too aggressive."
Case in point – freshman
Rechelle Meade. In her qualifying race in the 60 meters, she nearly fell coming out of the blocks and spiked herself before regrouping and, barely, qualifying for the final. She came back to win the final almost half a second faster (7.82 seconds) – a vast time over 60 meters, than her preliminary race.
She added the long jump title with a jump of 18 feet, 9.9 inches as the Vandals' only multiple event winner Friday. Her victory in the long jump, however, was part of a sweep of the jumping events with
Katelyn Peterson winning the high jump (5 feet, 4.9 inches) and
Karina Moreland capturing the triple (38 feet, 8.2 inches).
Kolcie Bates added to Idaho's domination of the field events with a victory in the weight throw (53 feet, 4.9 inches). Kaleale Bass was the other winner for the women with her victory in the 400 meters (59.57).
All-American long jumper
Arphaxad Carroll continued his impressive ways with an indoor personal best of 24½ to lead a solid Vandal outing in the jumps.
Jonny Magee collected the triple jump title (44 feet, 4.7 inches).
Cawley had praise for hurdler/sprinter
Zion Stuffle, who finished second in the 60-meter hurdles by a thread (he finished in 8.35 seconds – .01 off Parker Bowden's winning time of 8.34). Stuffle followed that race by leading off the winning 4x400 relay.
Mack Baxter picked up the win in the 400 meters (50.58) and
Blake Gerling led a 1-2-3 sweep of the 800 with his winning time of 1:56.52.
Cawley also commended freshman Zack Short, who made the leap from the 12-pound high school shot to the 16-pound collegiate version and finished third with a put of 52 feet, 9.9 inches.
"It was a solid day," Cawley said. "We had some pretty good performances.
"We're pretty young. We can see some inconsistencies. But it couldn't have gone much better."
