MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho track and field heads to Flagstaff, Arizona this weekend to face off against the best in the Big Sky Conference inside the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome. Competition begins on Thursday, February 27 with the men's heptathlon and the women's pentathlon, before diving into 42 different events across the men's and women's competitions on Friday, February 28, and Saturday, March 1.
All three days can be watched live on ESPN+ and followed with live results on Athletic.net.
Three Vandals are slated to fight for a conference championship in the multis, with Belen García Arias participating in the pentathlon for the second time this season, as
Landon Peterson is jumping into the heptathlon for the first time in 2025.
García Arias competed in the pentathlon for the first time in her collegiate career at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial in January, collecting 3144 points, the tenth most by a Big Sky athlete this season. Peterson last tried his hand at the event during the 2024 Big Sky Indoors, where he gathered 4334 points, finishing sixth. The pentathlon starts the conference meet with the 60-meter hurdles at 9 a.m. Thursday and all five events will be run on Thursday. The heptathlon will begin with the 60-meter dash at 9:15 a.m. Thursday, with three of the seven events spilling over into Friday.
Friday's action for Idaho begins at 2 p.m. PST with the women's weight throw, where
Mia Sylvester looks to repeat as Big Sky champion. Sylvester currently holds the second-longest throw in the Big Sky this season, posting a 19.24-meter toss at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial in Moscow. The junior from Belmopan, Belize set the school indoor record, 21.00 meters, at last year's conference meet. She will also compete in the shot put on Saturday at 9 a.m. PST, an event she finished fourth in at the 2024 event. Sylvester had the third-longest shot throw by a Big Sky athlete in the regular season at 14.83 meters.
Paige Palzinski will also compete in the weight throw Friday, qualifying with a 13.15-meter throw. Freshman
Tesse Kamps is joining Sylvester in a quest for a spot on the shot put podium after a throw of 13.34 meters at the final meet of the regular season.
The first Vandals to take to the track will be in the women's 400 at 3 p.m. PST Friday.
Franziska Stoehr and
Maiya Brunoro both raced to top-15 times in the conference during the regular season, with Stoehr running a career-best 55.75 as Brunoro raced to a 56.06 at the UW Invite on January 31.
Four Vandals are competing in the 60-meter dash prelims.
Cash Jones is the lone man to compete for Idaho at the distance after sprinting to a time of 6.84 at the Husky Classic, the sixth-fastest time in the Big Sky.
Jana Willems,
Blossom Omogor, and
Adelyn Mitchell will represent the black and gold on the women's side. Willems and Omogor both raced to top-10 times in the regular season. The men's prelims are set for 3:20 p.m. PST Friday. The women will follow at 3:35 p.m. PST.
Joe Reiber and
Dante Cox will challenge for the men's high jump title. Both have registered top 10 conference marks this season, with Reiber's 2.04-meter leap in January placing him fourth in the Big Sky and sixth in the Idaho record books. The men's high jump will take place at 4 p.m. PST Friday.
Idaho is entering seven men into the 800-meter prelims on Friday, with senior
Zac Bright headlining the gaggle of Vandals. Earlier this season, Bright ran a 1:49.16, the second-fastest time in the conference. At the 2024 edition of this meet, Bright finished second behind NAU's Colin Sahlman, who in turn finished fourth in the event at the NCAA National Championships.
Leah Holmgren and
Savannah Pratt are taking on the women's 800. Holmgren ran a career-best 2:10.53 at February's Husky Classic, the fourth-best time in school history and the eighth-best by a Big Sky athlete in 2025. The men's prelims are slated to begin at 4 p.m. PST Friday, with the women's event following at 4:15 p.m.
Blossom Omogor is one of five Vandals with a chance at the women's 200 title, after the sophomore from Warri, Nigeria laid down a 24.29 in the event, the third-best time in school history. The event starts at 4:50 p.m. PST Friday night.
Jesuye Doherty currently holds the longest mark in the conference in the men's long jump, a leap of 7.60 meters. Doherty, Jones, and Peterson will all represent the Vandals in the event beginning at 5 p.m. PST Friday.
To close out Friday, both of Idaho's distance medley relay teams will race for the title, holding onto the second-fastest times in the Big Sky. The men's edition of the event is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. PST, and the women's is set for 6:25 p.m. PST.
In Saturday's field events, the Vandals have a shot at the women's high jump title, with
Annika Jozin and
Cami Cvitkovich ranking in the top six in the event in the regular season.
Shawn Twumasi Ampofo is the lone member of the black and gold that will compete in the men's triple jump. The junior from England set the Big Sky best mark at 15.28 meters in his final jump of the regular season.
To close the weekend, Idaho will compete in the ultimate team event, the 4x400-meter relay. On the women's side, the team of Stoehr, Omogor, Brunoro, and
Rhyan Madden ran the second fastest time in the conference this season at the Don Kirby Invite to close the regular season. Their time of 3:41.99 is the third-best in Vandal history.
As a team, Idaho will look to match their strong performance from last year, where the Vandal men claimed third, their fourth straight top-three finish as a team, and the women placed fourth.
The 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships will take place on March 14 and 15 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho Track and Field by following the team on Instagram and X, @IdahoTrack.
