WSU, UI Warm Up For Ncaas

Washington State track and field coach Rick Sloan and Idaho counterpart Mike Keller aren’t hoping for foul weather at the NCAA championships in Eugene, Ore.

But if it happens…

“Hey, our guys have been in crummy weather the last three months, so it isn’t going to be a shock,” said Keller, who has five qualifiers for the meet, which begins today at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field. “Some guy from LSU asked me if the weather gets any better and I said, ‘Nope, you’re seeing the best of it.”’

Sloan, who has three qualifiers, couldn’t help but notice Eugene’s gray skies and drizzle on Tuesday.

“They’ve got our weather,” Sloan said. “It’s sprinkling a little bit, (temperature) in the upper 50s. That kind of levels the playing field a bit.”

Athletes from warm-weather southern schools probably will be in for a climate adjustment. Athletes from our region might be used to the conditions, but still face uphill battles for top placings.

Former Coeur d’Alene High star Corissa Yasen, a senior at Purdue, might have this area’s best shot at winning an event. She’s seeded second in the heptathlon and third in the high jump. She’s been an All-American (top eight) seven times at the NCAA meet, but she’s still shooting for her first individual title.

WSU sophomore Leo Slack, eighth in last year’s decathlon, enters with the third-best point total (7,743), nine points behind second place.

Idaho’s Frank Bruder, a junior from Germany, was eighth in last year’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. He has the seventh-fastest time (8 minutes, 41.22 seconds) among this year’s qualifiers. Sophomore javelin thrower Oscar Duncan has the fifth longest throw, but his 238-foot heave came in March, before he developed an elbow injury.

Other Vandals qualifiers are freshman Tawanda Chiwira and sophomore Felix Kamangirira in the 400 meters and senior Paul Thompson in the 400-meter hurdles.

Idaho’s five qualifiers are its most single-event entrants ever in the NCAAs. “Of the 11 that made it from the Big Sky, five are ours,” Keller said. “And four of those five are back.”

Sloan is optimistic about the chances of senior Dominique Arnold (110 hurdles) and freshman Francesca Green (long jump).

Arnold was second at the Pac-10 meet in 13.62. Green won the Pac-10 women’s long jump on her first attempt.

“Whatever the level of competition, that where she takes her ability,” Sloan said. “For Dominique, it’s a matter of staying patient and holding his mechanics together.”

Sloan was disappointed to learn that freshman Ian Waltz, from Post Falls, didn’t earn an NCAA berth.

“They took 18,” Sloan said. “Ian and another guy were tied at 20th, 2 inches behind (the final qualifier). After Ian, there was a 2-foot break, a natural break. How do you cut it at 2 inches when there’s a natural break? It would have been great for him to get here. He’s been throwing well lately.”

, DataTimes