MOSCOW, Idaho - Idaho Track and Field opens the 2024 outdoor season at the Buc Scoring Invite hosted by Whitworth University this Thursday and Saturday. This marks Idaho's fourth consecutive year kicking off the outdoor season at the Whitworth Pine Bowl.

Action gets underway with the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon on Thursday at 11 am PST followed by both track and field events. Competition continues through Friday which begins with the final events of the men's decathlon at 11 am, the women's heptathlon at 12:15 pm and all remaining track and field events to follow.

Last time out, the Vandals concluded their 2024 indoor season at the Big Sky Indoor Championships at The Podium in Spokane, Washington. 

Noah Culbertson scored the lone title for the Vandal men with a personal-best 18.05m mark in the shot put. Three other men earned medals en route to finishing in third place with 69 points.

On the women's side, Mia Sylvester earned her third career Big Sky title and first in the women's weight throw, helping the Vandals score 64 total points for fourth place. The sophomore, Sylvester, threw a Vandal record 21.00m on her final attempt securing gold. Sylvester was named the Big Sky's Co-Most Outstanding Female Performer. 

Hanna Tait earned the honor of Big Sky Indoor Female Freshman of the Year. Tait, of Grafton, NSW, Australia, scored a silver medal with an Idaho freshman record of 3742 points in the women's pentathlon. She followed the performance with another Idaho record of 24.05 for fourth place in the women's 200m finals.

Other medal winners came from the women's 4x400m relay team of Camryn Crouch, Olivia Martin, Franziska Stoehr, and Prabhasha Wickramaarachchi. The women ran a 3:41.90 mark for the second-fastest in Idaho history and secured a bronze medal.

LAST YEAR
The Vandal men finished in third at the 2023 Big Sky Outdoor Championships in Greeley, Colorado. 

The 4x100m relay team of Jemini Archer, Spencer Barrera, Mika Brouwer, and Jurrian Hering finished second at 40.00. Later, the 4x400m relay squad of Archer, Barrera, Deyondre Davis, and Lorenz Herrmann would take first at a 3:10.88 mark. 

Archer earned two more medals with a 200m personal-best, 20.94, for second place and a 10.48 for third place in the 100m. 

Barrera secured a silver medal running the 400m at 46.59 and Herrmann took second in the men's 800m (1:51.13). 

Hering earned a bronze medal in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.92. 

In the field, Culbertson finished second, throwing a personal-best 17.75m in the shot put and Simone Fedel took third in the triple jump (15.13m).

The Idaho women finished in eighth at the 2023 Outdoor Championships with 64 points. 

Tayler LyDay earned her second career gold medal jumping 12.82m in the triple jump. 

Wickramaarachchi took third in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:01.49. 

The Vandals head to the Bay Area next week competing in the Stanford Invitational at Stanford University and the Mike Fanelli Track Classic hosted by San Francisco State. Both meets will run Friday and Saturday, March 29-30.

Montana State will host the 2024 Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Bobcat Track & Field Complex in Bozeman, Montana. The Championships are set for May 8-11.

Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho Track and Field by following the team on Instagram and X, @IdahoTrack.