MOSCOW, Idaho - Following an outdoor season filled with weekly awards and broken records, Idaho is set to compete at this week's 2026 Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championship. The event will begin with the multis on Wednesday and Thursday, before moving to the main competition on Friday and Saturday. All four days of competition can be watched on ESPN+, with live results available on AthleticLive.
"Both teams are very excited to compete this week at the Big Sky Outdoor Championship," Director of Track and Field Tracy Hellman said in the buildup to this week's meet. "All year, our athletes have worked hard to put themselves in a great position to perform their best, while helping the team succeed. The coaching staff is very optimistic about our team's success this weekend. Our multi girls will get things started for us right away on Wednesday, and we hope to carry that momentum all the way to the finals on Saturday. The Big Sky is a very competitive conference, so this weekend will be a great challenge for our athletes, but we are ready to give our best effort of the year."
The Vandals open competition in the heptathlon on Wednesday and Thursday with two representatives, reigning Big Sky indoor pentathlon champion and 2024 outdoor champion, Hanna Tait, alongside grad student Belén García Arias. Tait claimed the top step of the podium in February's indoor meet with 4088 points, the third-highest total in Big Sky history and the second most by a Vandal ever. The Grafton, New South Wales native has continued to post impressive performances throughout the outdoor season, as she holds top-20 marks among conference rivals in five events: the long jump (second), 100m hurdles (seventh), 200 meters (14th), the javelin (15th), and the high jump (18th), in addition to the top spot in the heptathlon after posting 5511 points at April's Bryan Clay Multis.
On Friday morning, the attention turns towards the men's and women's javelin, the women's high jump, and the men's long jump, with Idaho having contenders in all four events. Blake Sturgis has led the Big Sky javelin performance list all season, earning three Athlete of the Week nods along the way. The senior from Spokane is peaking at the right time after setting the Whitworth Pine Bowl facility record at last week's Whitworth Last Chance meet, with a massive 73.21m (240'2") throw that moved him to second in Vandal history.
Francesca Cuccu and Cami Cvitkovich are each in contention to score big points for Idaho in the women's high jump, with both ranked within the top five of the Big Sky performance list after strong outdoor seasons. In her first college season competing in the event, Cuccu soared to a personal best 1.73m jump in April's Pacific Coast Invite, good enough to place her name second in the conference this season, while Cvitkovich, who earned her first career Big Sky medal in the high jump at Feburary's indoor championship, enters this week's meet with a season best of 1.71m. The women's high jump will open competition alongside the men's javelin on Friday at 10 a.m.
Four Vandal women are placed within the Big Sky top-10 in the javelin heading into Friday's competition. Baylee Wroble and Lindi Kessinger have both passed the 45-meter mark this season, becoming two of only nine Vandals to do so this century. Idaho's other two entrants, Adisyn Andrews and MaKenzie Carpenter, have made huge strides this season under Vandal legend Julie Taylor, with the freshman Andrews improving her personal best mark by nearly 12 feet. The women's javelin is set to begin at noon on Friday, with the men's long jump taking place at the same time, where Cash Jones and Bradley Giesen are in medal contention.
The men's and hammer throw sees several Vandals pushing for points, with Caden Hottman, Mason Andulajevic, and Bradley Hottman all heading to Portland within the top seven of the Big Sky performance list. As a team, Idaho is ranked 21st in the nation for the hammer and can claim big points at 2 p.m. Friday.
After the heptathlon, Tait will also headline UI's four entrants in the long jump as she enters the weekend as one of three Vandals who have broken the six-meter mark this season, along with Sydnie Zywina and Jada Miller, which gives Idaho three of the top-five marks in the conference this season. Mara Fuerniss will also compete after a strong sophomore season, giving the Vandals four strong chances at points-paying positions in the event.
The track events open on Friday with the 3k steeplechase at 1 p.m., where Constanze Paoli is in contention for gold. Paoli qualified for the West Regionals a season ago, and broke the 10-minute barrier for the first time in her career in April, running a 9:58.03 at the Bryan Clay Invite.
Rhyan Madden and Makenna Ritter will represent the Black and Gold in the 400, before a slew of Vandals compete in the 100m prelims at 3:30. Big Sky 60m record holder Keenan Kuntz looks to become a two-time conference champion and cap off a spectacular sophomore season in Moscow. His outdoor season has been just as strong, as he enters Friday's prelims with the second-fastest 100 time in the conference, a 10.18 that puts him second in school history.
Jana Willems and Ashley Hollenbeck Willems have both run one of the six fastest times in the Big Sky this season and are contenders for podium positioning this weekend. Kuntz and Hollenbeck Willems will also be competing in Friday night's 200 prelims, as will Alyssa Marsh. All three arrive in Portland with podium aspirations and have a shot to pull in valuable points for Idaho.
UI's 4x100 relay teams are both ranked third in the conference entering the weekend, after a season where the women's team has set the school record on two occasions.
UP NEXT
The Vandals will await results from around the country to see if their season-long efforts earned a spot at the NCAA West First Round in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
