Vandal Track and Field Set to Split Weekend in the Bay Area
MOSCOW, Idaho – The Vandal track and field team will travel to California this weekend for the Stanford Invitational and the Mike Fanelli Track Classic hosted by San Francisco State. Both meets will take place Friday through Saturday.
The Vandals will face a fierce field of competition at the Stanford Invitational. The field is comprised of professional athletes in addition to several top-tier college teams. Schools from around the country will participate including power-5 institutions such as Arkansas, Wisconsin, Stanford, Boise State, Oregon, Oklahoma State, Washington, Kentucky, Iowa State, and many more.
The Mike Fanelli Track Classic will feature competition mainly from the pacific northwest/west coast region. Schools such as UCSB, Santa Clara, UC Davis, and San Francisco will be in attendance. Only a handful of Idaho athletes are pinned to compete at San Francisco State while the rest will be at Stanford.
Stanford Invitational
Due to the elite field of athletes, the Stanford Invitational will feature several heats throughout the day as well as collegiate and invitational heats. The invitational heats are comprised of professional athletes and top-tier collegiate athletes. Five Vandals have earned a spot in the invitational heats in their respective events: Mia Sylvester (shot put), Nathyn Maller (javelin), Kelsey Swenson (10,000m), Noah Culbertson (shot put), and Tayler LyDay (triple jump).
Per usual, the event will start on Friday with field events at 10:00 a.m. The first running event will fire off at 11:04 a.m. with the women's 5,000m. On Saturday the meet will resume with the men's triple jump at 1:00 p.m. and the women's 4x100 relay at 1:22 p.m.
31 Vandals will compete throughout the two days, with 12 competing in at least two events. Following last weekend at Whitworth's Buc Scoring Invite, 13Â Vandals are ranked top-five in the Big Sky.
On the men's side, Lorenz Herrmann enters the weekend ranked third in the Big Sky in the 1,500m with a time of 3:49.76. Tim Stevens joins Herrmann in the 1,500m with a time of 3:51.73. Deyondre Davis ranks No. 1 in the 400m hurdles with a time of 53.48 and third in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.82. Although he is competing in the 400m this weekend, Spencer Barrera has the third-best time in the 200m at 21.66. The squad of Jemini Archer, Jon Watkins, Barrera, and Jurrian Hering have the second-best time in the 4x100 relay at 41.24. In the field, Joseph Ruddell ranks second in the high jump with a mark of 2.07m and Noah Culbertson ranks second in shot put with a mark of 17.09m. Ruddell's height also ranks 27th overall in the NCAA.
On the women's side, Katja Pattis and Kelsey Swenson are ranked third and fourth in the 1,500m with times of 4:27.95 and 4:31.41. Prabhasha Wickramaraachchi and Lara Holzhauer are also ranked third and fourth in the 400m hurdles with times of 1:02.46 and 1:03.83. The 4x100 relay team of Tayler LyDay, Camryn Crouch, Oliva Martin, and Wick are ranked third with a mark of 47.46. Mia Sylvester reigns in first in the shot put with a distance of 14.51m. Sylvester and Pattis' marks both rank in the top 100 in the NCAA heading into the weekend.
The Vandals aim to improve this weekend with new personal bests and climb the rankings in the Big Sky.
Mike Fanelli Track Classic
On Friday, the Vandals will compete in the 1,500m followed by the 5,000m. Leah Holmgren and Nathalia Campos will compete in the women's 1,500m at 9:30 a.m. Gage Zanette and Sam Fulbright will follow in the men's heat at 9:36 a.m. Campos and Fulbright will return to compete in the 5,000m with the women's at 11:54 a.m. and the men's at 12:15 p.m.
Saturday will kick off with field events. Ellie Grant and Amanda Munoz will compete in the women's triple jump at 9:00 a.m. followed by Julia Hayes in the women's high jump at 9:30 a.m. Three women and three men will represent Idaho in the 800m. Holmgren, Hannah Russell, and Elise Abbott will leave the start line at 11:10 a.m. followed by Mattson, Zanette, and Ethan Sturdivant at 11:14 a.m. Belen Garcia Arias will compete in the women's 100m hurdles at 1:41 p.m. followed by Jon Watkins in the men's 400m at 2:58 p.m. Holzhauer and Garcia Arias will conclude the day in the 400m hurdles at 4:50 p.m.
Follow Along
A compiled schedule for the weekend can be found here.
Follow along for updates on our social media pages on Twitter (@IdahoTrack), Instagram (@idahotrack), and Facebook (University of Idaho Track & Field/Cross Country).
