SPOKANE, Wash. - Two school records were broken and Idaho took a couple of meet victories on what was a strong opening day of the 2026 indoor season for the Vandals against strong competition at the Spokane Showcase.

HEAR FROM COACH
"I keep telling the kids that nothing matters (until) Big Sky Championships and we're still seven weeks out from Big Sky's," Coach Hellman said after competition Friday. "And so for us to hit good marks early and again, comparatively, where we were last year at this point, we are ahead of where we were. And so certainly it doesn't guarantee that we're going to finish better than we were last year, but I think it puts us in a good position to do that. And so it's something for our team to be excited about, and we're going to take this as a stepping stone toward our home meet next weekend, and looking forward to hosting the Lauren McCluskey next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday."



HOW IT HAPPENED
Keenan Kuntz set the tone for Idaho in one of the first events of the day, the 60-meter dash, when he sprinted to the fastest time in the prelims, a 6.74, the fastest of his college career. The sophomore transfer from Washington State more than backed up his massive opening statement by laying the hammer in the finals, crossing the line in 6.66 seconds, a new Vandal record, to win the race by nearly .15 seconds. Kuntz narrowly beat out the 23-year-old mark from Nikela Ndebele to take the top spot in the UI record books. The Richland, Washington native's time is currently the best in the Big Sky and a top-30 time nationally. 

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Later in the afternoon, Maiya Brunoro made a mark in her first competitive running of the 600 by besting the school record time in the event from 1982 by running a 1:33.81, edging the old mark by just under a tenth of a second. 

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The Vandals continued to have a strong day in the sprints thanks to Jana Willems and Blossom Omogor, who both posted big times to begin the season. In the women's 60 prelims, Willems flew to a personal best 7.46, a mark that now tops the Big Sky charts and is just two-hundredths of a second off the school best. Omogor began her junior season with a strong 7.58 in the 60, before following it up with a meet victory in the 200. Her 200 time of 24.22 is just shy of her personal best of 24.20 and ranks 37th in the country. 

In the first meet of her college career, Makenna Ritter became just the fifth ever Vandal woman to go sub-40 seconds in the 300 by posting a 39.79. 

Idaho's throwers posted strong performances as well, with Gioele Tengattini and Beatriz Marciano each taking third in their respective shot put competitions. Both posted throws that rank in the top 75 nationally. Kathryn Burnette found fourth in both the shot and the weight throw for the Vandals, launching a 14.04-meter throw in the shot put to put herself within the top 100 DI marks. 

UP NEXT
Idaho will begin its two-meet home indoor slate next weekend with the Lauren McCluskey Invitational. The event stretches across three days, with competition inside the P1FCU Kibbie Dome beginning on Thursday, January 22, and continuing through Saturday, January 24.

FOLLOW THE VANDALS
To stay up to date with Idaho Cross Country, follow the team on Instagram (IdahoTrack), X (IdahoTFXC), and visit GoVandals.com.