Two Vandals Qualify For Ncaa Meet

More than 1,100 athletes competed Saturday in the final indoor track and field meet hosted by the University of Idaho during the 1997 season.

Idaho was represented well as Chris Kwaramba, Jason St. Hill and Tawanda Chiwira all set NCAA provisional qualifying marks in their respective events.

Kwaramba won the triple jump with a season-best leap of 52 feet, 6 inches. The mark ties the Idaho Indoor record set by Osita Nsofar in 1978.

Jason St. Hill ran a season-best 21 minutes, .21 seconds in placing second in the 200 meters behind Ed Turner of Washington, whose winning time of 21.06 broke the Kibbie Dome record.

Many of the Vandals who competed the night before in the 22nd Annual Vandal Indoor did not compete on Saturday.

The meet is Idaho’s final tune-up before heading to the Mt. Pacific Federation Championships on Saturday, where they will compete against five Pac-10 schools including Washington, Washington State, Arizona, and Arizona State. The Big West, Idaho’s conference in other sports, does not recognize Indoor Track and Field and has no conference championships.

The Idaho women were led by weights competitor Jill Wimer, who placed first in the shot put for the fourth straight meet with a season-best throw of 47-4-1/4. She placed second in the discus.

Other winners included Katie Kress, who won the triple jump with a leap of 39-8, and Jackie Blackett, whose 8.31 in the 55-meter hurdles earned the win. , DataTimes