BOISE, Idaho ? The University of Idaho women's heptathletes decided in their team meeting on Tuesday that they would take it upon themselves to kick-start the Western Athletic Conference Championships for the Vandals.
On Thursday, Molly Burt, Darcy Collins, Lindsey Goodman and Alice Draser kept their word by finishing second through fifth and giving the women's team a big boost of 22.5 team points after one event.
“We knew if they stepped up and got personal bests, we'd go two through five and they did,” Co-Head Coach Yogi Teevens said. “You can't ask for much more than that.
Collins, a sophomore, was the team's top scorer for the day as she took second with a 200-point lifetime-best score of 4,951 to earn her second career first-team All-WAC honor. She moves into sixth on Idaho's impressive all-time list in the event. She finished fourth last year with what had previously been the ninth-best score all-time of 4,740.
Burt, a senior in her final collegiate competition, came up big and repeated as the third-place finisher to earn her second career first-team All-WAC honor. She scored a lifetime-best 4,842 to improve on her No. 8 all-time standing.
Draser, a freshman in her first WAC outdoor action, moved into the No. 10 position on Idaho's all-time list with a score of 4,768. Draser moved from sixth to fourth in the final three events, including an outdoor-best leap of 19-0 (5.79m) in the long jump, which is the sixth-best in Idaho history. The fourth-place finish gave Draser her third career All-WAC certificate after she took home one first-team and one second-team honor indoors.
Goodman came up with a big lifetime best as well, as she added nearly 100 points to her previous best to finish the day tied in fifth at 4,686. The finish gave Goodman her third career second-team All-WAC honor.
“That's the start we needed,” Teevens said. “The heptathlon is difficult because so many things can happen, so for that to go through like we wanted it to was really exciting.”
Annett Wichmann of Hawai'i won the event with a score of 5,266. Following the effort, Idaho's women finish the first event ahead of the field with a score 22.5, while Hawai'i sits in second at 12.
The individual events kick off Friday with the men's hammer throw at 12:30 p.m. Live scoring is available at www.wacsports.com.
