SPOKANE, Wash. – Vandal track and field started the outdoor season off on the right foot at the Whitworth Buc Scoring / Combined Events meet on Thursday and Friday this week in Spokane. The Vandals capped off the event with 12 first place finishes and 17 other podium finishes.

On Thursday, Nathyn Maller brought home second place in his first event of the year. He threw for a distance of 58.51m in the men's javelin throw.

The Vandals started Friday with back-to-back first place finished in the 4x100m relays. The women's team was represented by Tayler LyDay, Camryn Crouch, Olivia Martin, and Prabhasha Wickramaraachchi. They ran for a time of 47.67s. On the men's side, Jemini Archer, Jon Watkins, Spencer Barrera, and Jurrian Hering ran for a time of 41.24s.

The distance squad also saw much success, taking first in the 1500m in both the men's and women's races. Katja Pattis earned first-place with a time of 4:27.95, followed by Kelsey Swenson in third with a personal best time of 4:31.41. Lorenz Herrmann earned his first-place finish with a time of 3:49.76.

Deyondre Davis and Landon Peterson picked up second and third place finishes in the men's 110m hurdles, with times of 14.82s and 15.61s, respectively.

Camryn Crouch made her way on to the podium once again with a second place finish in the 400m dash. Crouch ran for a time of 57.82s. On the men's side, Jemini Archer also took second place with a time of 50.75s.

Idaho's field team dominated, placing at least one athlete on the podium in almost every event. Mia Sylvester started the Vandals off with a second-place finish in the women's discus. In her first competition throwing discus, she threw for a distance of 42.46m. She later went on to win the shot put with a distance of 14.51m. Noah Culbertson and Weston Jeffries went one and three in the men's shot put, throwing distances of 17.09m and 15.25m, respectively.

Landon Peterson followed up Sylvester with a second-place finish of his own in the men's long jump. Peterson jumped for a distance of 6.69m. Joseph Ruddell earned his first gold of the season in the men's high jump with a height of 2.07m.

The field events concluded with triple jump as three Vandals reached the podium. Justyn Rogers took second in the men's competition with a distance of 13.56m while Ellie Grant and Amanda Munoz took first and second with distances of 11.20m and 10.92m.

Transitioning back to the running events, the women swept the podium in the 400m hurdles. Wickramaraachchi took first with a time of 1:02.46, followed by Lara Holzhauer in second with a time of 1:03.83 and Belen Garcia Arias in third with a time of 1:04.37. Deyondre Davis was the sole male to make the podium in the 400m hurdles with a time of 53.48s.

Savannah Pratt earned her first podium of the outdoor season with a third-place finish in the 800m run with a time of 2:19.22.

Olivia Martin and Spencer Barrera both took first place in the 200m dash. Martin earned gold with a time of 25.12s and Barrera with a time of 21.66s.

Due to the inclement weather, the 3K steeplechase was canceled.

The Vandals are back in action next weekend at the Stanford Invitational, March 31^st – April 1^st in Stanford, Calif.