SPOKANE, Wash. – Eleven Vandals placed in the top four in events at the Cougar Classic and Spokane Indoor Challenge this weekend at The Podium.
The Cougar Classic featured athletes from seven different universities. Pac-12 schools Oregon, USC, and Washington State were represented in addition to Fresno State, Montana State, and UNLV. The Spokane Indoor Challenge featured over 20 institutions, including Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Montana, San Jose State, Stanford, UC Irvine, and Washington State.
The weekend started on Friday with the Cougar Classic. The Vandals' field athletes made their mark at The Podium, led by a first-place finish from
Joseph Ruddell in the high jump with a height of 2.08m.
Justyn Rogers recorded a distance of 7.20m in the long jump, earning second place. Freshman,
Joe Reiber, earned fourth in the long jump with a personal best mark of 6.83m.
Landon Peterson and
Cash Jones were close behind Reiber with marks of 6.72m (fifth) and 6.68m (sixth) respectively.
Zachary Nunis and
Amanda Munoz rounded out the jump event dominance with first and fourth-place finishes. Nunis recorded a distance of 15.14m and Munoz jumped a personal best distance of 11.51m in the women's triple jump for a fourth-place finish.
Noah Culbertson also earned silver with a personal best distance of 17.17m in the shot put.
Weston Jeffries beat his old personal best in the weight throw by more than two meters, earning fourth with a mark of 14.79m.
On Saturday at the Spokane Indoor Challenge, the Vandals saw success in the running events, especially the men's 800m.
Lorenz Herrmann took first place with a time of 1:50.01, followed by
Zac Bright in second with a season-best time of 1:52.41, and
Gage Zanette in fourth with a personal-best time of 1:53.54.
Hannah Russell ran a personal best time of 2:19.41 in the women's 800m earning ninth place and
Leah Holmgren took fifth in the mile with a time of 5:10.42.
The Vandals are back in action at home next weekend for the inaugural Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open on January 20th-21st.
