MOSCOW, Idaho – Three Vandals claimed first at the Oregon State High Performance, as Idaho moved up in the Big Sky rankings on the Vandals' final meet weekend of the 2025 outdoor regular season.
"It was another successful weekend for our crews as we closed out the regular season in Oregon and Arizona," Director of Track and Field Tracy Hellman said. "At Oregon State, the steeplers all set personal bests and improved their standing in the NCAA West Regional."
Katja Pattis grabbed the top spot in the women's 3K steeplechase with a career-best 10:04.33, the fifth-best time in the Big Sky and the second fastest in Idaho history.
Constanze Paoli followed in third, as the sophomore also set a career-best in the event, a 10:18.09. Paoli now finds herself in the seventh spot in the Big Sky rankings. Pattis and Paoli now look to be set to compete in the NCAA West Regional later this month. Pattis' time places her 18th on the qualifying list, as Paoli holds the 37th position. The top 48 in each event will clinch a spot in the West Regional held in College Station, Texas, at the end of May.
Abigail Thomas also set a personal best on Friday, a 10:43.88 mark that places her 12th in the conference.
The Vandals swept the shot put titles in Corvallis, with
Noah Culbertson and
Mia Sylvester each on the top step of the podium. Culbertson's 17.41-meter throw is his longest of 2025 and the fifth longest in the Big Sky this season. Sylvester also placed third in the discus after a throw of 43.51 meters, her longest since April of 2023. Additionally, the junior set a season-best in the hammer throw and is now one of only two athletes in the conference to hold a top-15 spot in the women's hammer, discus, and shot put.
At the Desert Heat Classic,
Jana Willems tied her career-best in the 100, improving on her previous season best by nearly two tenths.
Blossom Omogor set an outdoor career best in the 400, racing to a time of 54.81, less than a tenth off the 25-year-old school record.
Three more Vandals found their way into the Big Sky top six in the high jump, as
Dante Cox jumped over 2 meters for the first time in his outdoor career to finish eighth in Tucson. On the women's side,
Annika Jozin set her career best at 1.74 meters, and freshman Cami Cvitkovic leaped to 1.69 meters. Jozin is just the 12th Vandal woman to jump over the 1.70-meter mark.
Rhyan Madden and
Lara Holzhauer both ran career-bests in the 400-meter hurdles, with both claiming top-11 spots in the Big Sky. They both finished just behind
Franziska Stoehr, who's season-best time of 1:00.29 is less than half a second off her career-best of 59.86, the fifth-fastest 400-meter hurdles time in school history. Stoehr now holds the sixth fastest time in the conference this season.
"Our jumpers and 400 hurdlers had nice improvements in their respective events and continue to improve their standing for Big Sky championships," Hellman said. "We now turn our attention to the Big Sky championships and are motivated to hit our best physical and mental performance in Sacramento in 2 weeks."
Idaho will take a week off before traveling to Sacramento, California, for the 2025 Big Sky Outdoor Championships beginning on May 14.
Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho Track and Field by following the team on Instagram, @IdahoTrack.
