Cougs Leap Into Pac-10 Fray Warm Weather Could Help WSU Surprise At Conference Finals

After seeing his team have to compete in a typical dismal, dank Pullman spring, Washington State men’s track coach Rick Sloan has been preheating his athletes in the Arizona desert this week.

With school out last week, Sloan took his 21 qualifiers for the Pacific-10 Conference meet to Tucson, where the league championships will unfold Friday and Saturday.

And his best hopes rest in the notion that some Cougars will bloom under the Arizona sun.

“I think our whole team will perform well for two reasons,” Sloan said. “One, because it’s the Pac-10 championships and, two, the weather is much nicer.”

The WSU women will have 14 representatives at the meet.

Sloan will have a difficult time matching last year’s third-place conference finish - mostly due to the graduation of distance-dominator Josephat Kapkory, who captured three titles.

“For us, it’s going to be points here and points there,” Sloan said. “I see us, maybe, around fifth place, looking at Oregon to be out there, UCLA, SC, and Arizona to be out there.”

An Oregon win might be considered an upset, since UCLA is coming off six titles in the last eight seasons.

“Oregon’s already got 24 points in the decathlon (1-2-3 sweep), then with Pat Johnson in the sprints and all their distance runners, they’re going to be tough,” Sloan said.

It’s possible, though, that the WSU men will do better than just getting “points here and points there.”

Senior pole vaulter Christos Pallakis has been relatively quiet as windy or wet weather has made for difficult vaulting this spring.

But his performance indoors - 18-6 and a ninth-place finish at the World Indoor championships - strongly suggests that Pallakis could respond well in a warm-weather meet against strong competition.

High jumper Jed Stannard, too, has shown he can contend for a title, having just missed out on a gold last year in a jump-off with Cal’s Kevin Keane.

Eric Anderson, who took third in the 800 last year, stands a close third in the ratings coming into the meet.

The Cougars’ best event, according to Sloan, should be the high hurdles, where Dominique Arnold and Jody Page are rated fourth and fifth. Page took third at the conference meet last year.

George Loucaides picked up a third in the steeplechase and a fourth in the 1,500 last year, but he’s qualified in just the steeple this year.

Sprinter Frank Madu finished strong at last year’s meet, taking fifth in the 100 and sixth in the 200.

“He looks fast and strong and it’s just a matter of getting him in the warm climate against this level of competition,” Sloan said.

For the WSU women, nine of the 14 qualifiers are freshmen or sophomores.

“Last year, we were senior-dominated, and seniors give you a lot of stability in this type of meet,” said Rob Cassleman, WSU women’s coach. “We’re in a different situation this year, but I think people like Nicky Booth (110-meter hurdles), Tamika Brown (100 and 200) and Annie Hobbs (1,500) have competed consistently against good competition throughout the year.”

WSU’s women placed eighth last year with 34 points.

UCLA, which took second at the NCAA indoor meet, should be considered favored to win its fourth straight women’s title.

In Boise, Eastern Washington and Idaho could make a run at Big Sky Conference titles.

Idaho’s men probably have the best chance, as Vandals hold the best marks in nine of 21 events heading into the meet.

“I don’t think anybody can touch Weber State, they’ve got too many numbers,” Idaho men’s coach Mike Keller said. “On a good day, we can get 100 points, but on a great day we can get more than 100 and maybe we get second.

“The big thing for us is we only lose one guy next year.”

Vandal Frank Bruder is one of just two Big Sky athletes to have registered an NCAA automatic qualifying time, leading the league in the steeplechase.

Niels Kruller leads the conference in the long jump and is second in the 200, but is coming off a recent knee injury.

Freshmen sprinters Jason St. Hill and Felix Kamingirira look like strong scorers for the Vandals, while they also take part in the Vandals’ conference-leading relay units.

A whopping five Idaho women have qualified in the javelin, including ‘93 champ Jessica Puckett. Jill Wimer is also strong in the weights, leading the conference in the discus and being rated second in the shot.

Angie Mathison, meanwhile, paces the conference at 10,000 meters.

The meet will be a curtain call for Eastern Washington’s Joyce Rainwater, one of the finest women athletes in conference history.

Rainwater has won eight conference sprint titles and has been named track athlete of the meet during three indoor and outdoor championships.

Rainwater owns the 100 and 200 meet records and has posted the Big Sky’s fastest times in the 100 (11.55 - conference all-time best) and 200 (23.89), as well as anchoring Eastern’s 4x100 relay team that is also the pre-meet favorite with a 46.10 time.

Last year, both Eagle teams finished seventh.

For the EWU men, Noah Chambreau and Jeramie Willingham are favorites to win events.

Chambreau has the Big Sky’s best discus throw this season (169-5) and is ranked third in the hammer (185-10). Willingham is top-ranked in the triple jump (49-9) and fourth in the long jump (23-11.