SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | MEET PROGRAM | PLUTOTV | LIVE RESULTS

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Championship season is here for Idaho track and field, with the 2019 Big Sky Indoor Track and Field Championships taking place in Bozeman.  Multis begin on Thursday, but the Vandals getting started in the individual events on Friday.
 
FOLLOW: The meet will be streamed live on the PlutoTV app and at WatchBigSky.com.  Live results will be available through the link on the schedule page and at the top of this article.  A full event schedule is also available (times are Mountain).
 
HOW'D WE GET HERE: It has been a fast-paced indoor season for the Vandals.  Idaho sent student-athletes to seven meets over five weeks, competing from Arkansas to Seattle.  The results have continued to improve all season, just in time for the Championships.
 
"It has been good.  Everything is kind of growing.  We have a lot of people figuring things out, getting fresh at the right time," said director of track and field/cross country, Tim Cawley.  "I think the coaching staff has done a good job of getting people ready, and growing them throughout the season to be ready at the right time."
 
Idaho has 16 student-athletes currently ranked in the top-10 in at least one event, with a handful ranked multiple times.  The Vandals also have eight student-athletes ranked in the top-five.  Three of those Vandals, Zachary Nunis, Karina Moreland and Kaleala Bass, are in the top-five based on their performance in the final regular season meet, at Boise.
 
"It's been slowly building.  We have a lot of student-athletes that you could tell in the fall were ready to figure things out and have that breakthrough.  Over the last couple of weeks we have started to see some of those breakthroughs," said Cawley.  "And there are still a lot of people that haven't quite hit it yet, but they're right there.  It's exciting.
 
"We're just focusing on that process and going out to try and beat your rank.  That's what we talk about all the time.  But we're going to go out and compete."
 
FAVORITES: A pair of Vandals are projected favorites in their events, in Zachary Short and Ben Doucette.  Short, the defending champion in the shot put, owns the Big Sky indoor record in the event, after throwing 19.01 meters (62-4.5) at the D1 Invitational Team Challenge in Moscow earlier this month.  Doucette, who won the 60-meter hurdles in 2017, leads the way in the event after running 7.87 seconds at the WSU Indoor Meet in January.  Short is ranked 23^rd in the nation in the shot put, while Doucette is ranked 39^th in the 60-hurdles.  The top 16 in the country advance to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Ala.
 
"You get to conference, you get that atmosphere, you get into it, and you're just looking for consistency.  If you're ranked first, the way I see them beating their rank is to go in and make the podium," Cawley said.  "Be in the top-three.  On the day, there are so many talented kids and coaches in this conference.  My goal for them is just to go out and compete and if they're on the podium they've done their job.  That's why we go compete.  Any given competitor can go out and do something exciting.  Look at Ben's freshman year.  You just never know."
 
FRESHMEN PHENOMS: A pair of freshmen jumpers have really set themselves apart this season.  Henrike Fiedler is currently ranked second in the women's long jump (5.90 meters/19-4.25), while Zachary Nunis is ranked fourth in the men's long jump (7.35 meters/24-1.50) and fifth in the men's triple jump (14.77 meters/48-5.50).
 
"The good thing with Henrike is that she has competed at the German national championships multiple times," Cawley said.  "She's very consistent and she's very good at finding her optimum performance arousal levels and goes after it and competes well.  But at the same time it's going to be a fun new experience, you just don't know what's going to happen.
 
"Zack is very talented.  You can tell he really enjoys competing and has fun out there.  Both of them enjoy the competition and do a good job of getting excited for it rather than panicking and putting pressure on it.  They're in the position they're in because they're talented.  It's just another meet, with a little extra adrenalin, so how do you handle that and push through it.  They're excited and I think they're in a good place.  I'm excited to see how they do."
 
PROJECTIONS: Idaho has done a tremendous job of moving up the rankings all season.
 
"We've never had this many women in the top-eight heading into the conference championship, so it just shows that growth," Cawley said.  "On the men's side, it's maybe a little bit down with the number we have in the top-eight, but we still have some people in the top-three and in some good positions.  And a lot of men on the fringe that could do some stuff.  It's exciting, the team is in a good place."
 
@IdahoTrack will take a look at all of Idaho's top-10 ranked student-athletes tomorrow.
 
To stay current on all Vandal Athletics visit GoVandals.com, or follow the Vandals on Twitter, @Idaho_Vandals.
 
Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho track and field/cross country by following the team on Twitter @IdahoTrack.