POCATELLO, Idaho - Hanna Tait and Keenan Kuntz won their first career Big Sky Indoor titles, as the Idaho women's track and field team claimed 11 podiums, their second-highest total in the past decade, to finish fourth in the team standings, while the men's team placed sixth. 

HEAR FROM COACH
"It was an outstanding weekend for the program at the Big Sky Championships," Director of Track and Field Tracy Hellman said Saturday night. "We exceeded our team expectations and we had numerous athletes attain all-conference honors, but more importantly, we had a great team environment and we were very well rounded with our successful events.  Hanna and Keenan were very impressive in their events and anytime you can win a Big Sky title, that's a great honor. We now shift our focus towards outdoor and look for another outstanding team result.  It was a great week to be a Vandal!"

HOW IT HAPPENED
Tait kicked off the weekend in style, taking control of the women's pentathlon standings from the first event on, winning the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.65, just one-hundredth-of-a-second off of her personal best from this season's Lauren McCluskey Invitational. She continued to build on this momentum by finishing ahead of the pack in each of the next three events to build up a massive points cushion before the final race of the day, the 800. 

The Grafton, New South Wales native finished the 800 in 2:24.76 to bring her point total to 4088, the second-highest total by a Vandal woman and the third-best in Big Sky history. This season's indoor gold joins a 2024 outdoor title and a silver from the 2024 indoor meet in the sophomore's collegiate pentathlon trophy case. Tait added a long jump medal to her collection on Friday night, leaping 6.05 meters to claim third, just ahead of fellow Vandal Sydnie Zywina. 

Kuntz entered the conference meet after a stellar indoor season that saw him break the school and Big Sky 60m records. The Richland, Wash. homegrown ran a strong 6.63 on Friday to punch his ticket to the finals alongside Cash Jones, who crossed the line in a personal best 6.77. 

The sophomore stepped up to the moment on Saturday, flying down the wooden track at Idaho State's ICCU Dome in just 6.59 seconds to reset his own Big Sky record and take the conference crown. Kuntz became the first Vandal in school history to claim the Big Sky 60-meter title and now ranks 20th among DI sprinters this season. 

Fellow Evergreen State native Jana Willems reset her own 60m school record in Friday's prelims, running a 7.41, to claim one of the eight spots in Saturday's finals.. Willems would follow Friday's record-breaking performance with a 7.49 in the finals to finish seventh in a very crowded 60m dash field. 

Cami Cvitkovich earned critical points for the women's team on Friday with her performance in the high jump, where she set a personal best by clearing the 1.77-meter bar in her first attempt. The two-time Utah high school state champion earned her first Big Sky medal with the leap and grabbed eight big points for the Vandals.

Zywina claimed her first DI medal in Saturday's triple jump by flying to a 12.54-meter mark, the best of the Orofino native's career, to finish second by just over a 10 centimeters. 

Kathryn Burnette and Beatriz Marciano showed out during Saturday's shot put, earning a double podium for Idaho and 14 points for the Black and Gold in one of the last events of the meet. Burnette's 15.41-meter throw is the longest of her career and places her name at the 74th spot in the nation. Marciano was just off the top three spots in Friday's weight throw, finishing fourth after a personal best 18.77m toss. Gioele Tengattini also earned his first Big Sky podium in the shot put, launching a 17.57-meter personal best throw to take the third spot in the men's event Saturday morning. 

Saturday also brought a 3000-meter medal for Constanze Paoli, who ran a 9:47.58 to take third. The podium finish is the junior's second at a Big Sky meet and will join a bronze from the 3000 meter steeplechase at last spring's outdoor championship. 

Idaho's women's relay teams both claimed strong finishes to close out the last two days of competition. The distance medley relay team of Abigail Thomas, Maiya Brunoro, Lara Holzhauer, and Paoli earned the third spot on the podium with the third fastest time in school history on Friday, combining to run an 11:40.44 over the 4000 meters. Rhyan Madden, Blossom Omogor, MaKenna Ritter, and Holzhauer contested one of the final two events of the weekend for the Vandals, the women's 4x400 relay. The group finished third, running a 3:40.52, the second fastest time ever by an Idaho team, to help secure the fourth spot in the team standings for the Black and Gold.

UP NEXT
Idaho will take the next couple of weeks to reset, before opening its outdoor season at a series of meets on the first weekend in April.