BOZEMAN, Mont. – The Vandal Track and Field team had a successful weekend at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships, hosted by Montana State. Freshman, Hanna Tait was the first gold-medal winner of the weekend, bringing home the first place finish in the heptathlon. Noah Culbertson finished up the weekend with a first-place personal best performance in the shot put as well.
 
Six individual Vandals earned at least one spot on the podium while 14 Vandals contributed to the overall team scores in addition to the relay teams. The women's team finished fourth overall with 72.5 points while the men finished seventh overall with 55 points. The Vandal women's relay teams broke school records in both the 4x100 relay and the 4x400 relay.
 
Tait kicked the weekend off in blizzard-like conditions braving inches of snow on her first day of competition on Wednesday. The next day, the conditions cleared, but it remained quite chilly in the Big Sky state. Tait persevered through the weather and her second-consecutive gold at the Big Sky Championships. With the most points as a freshman, she also brings home the Female Freshman of the Year once again. 
 
Friday morning started with three placements in the 3,000m Steeplechase – with two for the women and one for the men. Katja Pattis earned a spot on the podium with a second-place finish at 10:19.08. She was followed by Abigail Thomas in eighth place with a time of 11:02.41. Sam Fulbright landed seventh on the men's side with a time of 9:15.55.
 
Shortly after, Annika Jozin and Justyn Rogers scored points for the Vandals in separate jump events. Jozin placed eighth in the high jump with a height of 1.62m. Rogers became the first to reach the podium on the men's squad, earning second in the long jump with a mark of 7.43m.
 
In the field, freshman Gioele Tengattini and sophomore Mia Sylvester dominated. Tengattini placed fifth in the discus throw with a distance of 51.52m. Sylvester earned points for the women's team with a seventh-place finish in the shot put with a distance of 13.48m.
 
In the final events of the day, Hanna Tait earned a personal best 5.92m in the long jump to place fourth overall. The mark placed her in the top-10 in Idaho history at No. 7. In the final race of the night, Pattis earned sixth-place in the 10,000m with a time of 36:13.96.
 
Championship Saturday proved to be just as eventful as Friday, if not more. Simone Fedel got the Vandals started with a fifth-place finish in the triple jump. His mark of 15.21 (+2.1m/s wind aided) is a new personal best.
 
The 4x100 relay teams was highlighted by a second-place finish for the women with a time of 45.37. The time stands as a new school record, breaking the previous record held in 2003. Prabhasha Wickramaarachchi anchored the squad, followed by Camryn Crouch, Jana Willems and Olivia Martin. The men placed third with a time of 40.53 led by Jemini Archer, Mika Brouwer, Jon Watkins, and Jurrian Hering.
 
After the preliminary rounds on Friday, Hering returned to the track to compete in the 110m hurdles. Hering's prelim time of 14.05 marked a new personal best and moved him up to No. 5 in the record books. He placed fifth in the final race with a time of 14.48.
 
Blossom Omogor and Martin competed in the final for the women's 400m as well. Omogor ran a personal best time of 55.40 to qualify for the final where she placed sixth overall (55.95). Martin finished the race in fifth place with a time of 55.56.
 
Crouch found herself on the podium once again, picking up a bronze finish in the 100m sprint with a time of 11.91. Archer earned a point for the Vandal men with an eighth-place finish at 10.84. The day prior at the prelims, Archer ran a new personal best of 10.51.
 
Zac Bright and Lorenz Herrmann battled among the nation's top middle-distance runners in the 800m, picking up second and fourth, respectively. Bright earned silver with a time of 1:49.18 followed by Herrmann at 1:50.17.
 
In the 400m hurdles, Wickramaarachchi and Franziska Stoehr placed fourth and sixth in the finals. Wickramaarachchi ran a personal best time of 1:00.05 followed by Stoehr at 1:01.29.
 
Noah Culbertson earned gold in the shot put with a personal best distance of 18.10m. The mark ranks No. 10 all-time at Idaho. The win marked his first outdoor crown and completed the sweep in shot put at the Big Sky Championships (indoor & outdoor) this year.
 
Shortly after, Joe Reiber earned a point for the men in the high jump with a height of 1.97m.
 
In the final event of the weekend, the coveted 4x400m, the men (Jake Hisaw, Watkins, Herrmann, and Bright) finished eighth with a time of 3:16.92 while the women (Martin, Omogor, Wickramaarachchi, and Stoehr) finished third with a new school record time of 3:40.97.