Records Fall In Star-Studded Vandal Indoor

In the annual University of Idaho Vandal Indoor track meet Friday, Washington’s Ja’Warren Hooker and Idaho’s Tawanda Chiwira set the stage for an epic relay confrontation with meet and Kibbie Dome records in the 60 and 400 meters, respectively.

But what would have been a great duel in the 4x400 relay never materialized as Hooker ran a 46.6 opening leg to stake the Huskies to a lead against a Vandal team missing two of its regular members. Washington set a meet and Dome record 3:07.33, .33 off the automatic NCAA qualifying time. Chiwira anchored the Vandals to a 3:08.87 for second place, good for an NCAA provisional qualifier.

Six records from 400 meters down fell at the meet.

“I don’t think it’s all about California teams and Texas teams,” said Hooker of sprinting’s elite. “I think I proved that.”

He got only an average start in the 60, but within two strides he led, and his 6.59 broke Lee Gordon’s 6.74 mark that had stood since 1976.

Chiwira, by contrast, led from the gun, scorching a 45.85 400 that eclipsed the 46.15 meet and field records set by Olympic silver medalist Gabe Tiacoh. Both Hooker and Chiwira automatically qualified for the NCAAs.

“I didn’t feel race-ready, but I took it out a little bit faster,” Chiwira said. “I did expend some real energy in that race.”

For the women, Idaho’s Jeannine Korus broke her own school record by .19 seconds with a 56.39 in the 400. She doubled back to anchor the Vandals to a 5-second victory over Washington State in the 4x400 in 3:55.

Traditionally, the Vandal Indoor provides a venue for older stars. This year they included former NCAA hurdles champ Dominique Arnold of WSU. He came up from Northridge, Calif., to tie the Dome record and ran a personal-best 7.15 in the 55 hurdles.

At nearly 200 pounds, 10 pounds heavier than his days at WSU, Arnold clobbered three hurdles en route to his record.

“The weight has made me more powerful - that’s why I hit so many hurdles,” he said.

WSU owned the distances with Eric Kamau taking the mile in 4:06.46, Rosto Kiplangat the 800 in 1:49.87, and Bernard Lagat the 3,000 in 8:13.64. For the third straight year, boys and girls high-school miles were featured at the meet. Emily Hawkins of Spokane won in 5:27.96.