RESULTS

POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho Vandals track and field team had four podium finishes on the first day of the Big Sky Indoor Championships on Friday. It was a great start to the championship as several other Vandals scored, while eight qualified for finals tomorrow. The Idaho women closed the day in second place, while the men are in fifth.

"I thought we had a great day. I don't think it could have gone a whole lot better. We had a lot of podium performances and a lot of people moving through to tomorrow," said director of track and field/cross country Tim Cawley. "The team had a very gritty performance today and kept working hard. It thought we looked really good out there."

Rechelle Meade was the champion in the women's long jump for the second consecutive year. She easily won the event with a leap of 6.05m/19-10.25. Jordyn Rauer also scored in the event, taking fifth with a jump of 5.62m/18-5.25, which ties her career best mark.

In the women's 5000-meters, Kelsey Swenson took second place. The freshman finished in 17:07.80 to make the podium at her first championship.

Zachary Nunis finished second in the men's long jump. His season's best jump of 7.52m/24-8.00 put him on the podium for the second-straight year at the Big Sky Indoor Championships.

The men's distance medley relay team made up of Ben Shaw, Kaizer Gillispie, Josiah Anderson, and Tim Stevens were third with a time of 10:06.59.

Freshman Julia Hayes was fourth in the high jump. She cleared 1.72m/5-7.75, which is a personal best.

In the shot put, Hannah Ringel scored with a seventh-place finish (14.09m/46-2.75).

The Vandals got points from two finishers in the men's weight throw. Grady Leonard was fourth with a career-best 18.68m/61-3.50. Cullen Williams took eighth with a throw of 17.90m/58-8.50.

The women's distance medley relay team consisting of Faith Dilmore, Aaryanna Kurucz, Erica Pecha, and Nell Baker earned two points for placing seventh in 12:13.55.

Meanwhile, eight Vandals qualified out of their preliminaries on Friday. In the women's 400, Lauren Paven will compete in the final tomorrow. In the 800, Krista Story, Malaina Thacker, and Anna Pecha all made it out of prelims.

Ben Doucette qualified for the finals of both the 60-meter dash and the 60-meter hurdles. His prelim time in the hurdles was the second fastest of the day. Spencer Barrera had the fourth best time in the 400m to make it to the final tomorrow, while Dean Ellenwood qualified for the 800-meter finals.

Overall, the women finished Friday with 31 points to sit in second place. Idaho State holds the lead with 41 points. The Vandal men have 20 points to stand fifth. Northern Arizona leads with 53 points.

"We're excited for tomorrow. I think our performances today put us in a really good spot heading into tomorrow. We'll go out and compete hard again and see how it goes," said Cawley.

Competition concludes on Saturday in Pocatello. Field events kick off at 10 a.m., while the first running event begins at 12:30 p.m.

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