Vandals Fall Back On Good Individual Efforts

Big West/NAIA track

There might have been a temptation to kick the dirt and scowl after both University of Idaho track and field teams came up short at the Big West Conference Championships at Boise State University.

But neither Vandals coach did. Nor were they tempted.

Mike Keller and Yogi Weigel dwelled on the positive: the nine season-bests by the men and the eight by the women.

The men came up short in their attempt to win a fourth consecutive outdoor title, falling 182-157 to a strong Utah State team. The women didn’t quite make their lofty goal of a third-place finish, winding up fourth with 69 points. Utah State won with 238.

Sophomore Jeannine Korus finished third in the 400 meters while running an Idaho record of 55.04 seconds to trim .64 off the record she set last year. Senior sprinter Humrei Thompson, in a runner-up finish in the 200 meters, broke the school mark she set earlier this spring when she was timed in 24.04 seconds. That was .11 better than the time she ran on May 2.

Then there was the surprising 4x400 relay team. With Thompson exhausted from the sprint double and a leg in the 4x100, Weigel called on freshman Kathryn Dallas to run the second leg. She held her own and, with Korus passing two runners in the final 400 meters, the Vandals wound up second in a school-record time of 3 minutes, 47.16 seconds.

Vandals sophomore Adejuyigbe Adekunle won the men’s 400 meters in a personal-best 46.09 seconds, which is a provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA outdoors.

Adekunle’s championship was one of five individual titles won by the men. He was joined by javelin thrower Oscar Duncan, hammer thrower Jeff High, triple jumper Chris Kwaramba, and 800-meter runner Derek Klinge.

“We scored more points than we projected,” Keller said. “Our kids did a heck of a job.”

NAIA

Two Whitworth athletes achieved All-American status at the NAIA outdoor track and field championships in Tulsa, Okla.

Miranda Thygesen, ranked 11th, finished third in the women’s 800 meters with a time of 2:12.51, a school record. Betsy Slemp finished fifth in the women’s hammer throw with a toss of 145-9.

Jeremy Whelhan placed eighth in the men’s javelin at 191-4. Chet Doughty was 12th in the men’s triple jump at 45-2 and ninth in the long jump as 23-1-3/4.

Danielle Swift was 10th in the women’s javelin (126-2) and Slemp finished 21st in the discus (124-8).

Simon Fraser won the women’s team title, becoming the first women’s NAIA team to win the indoor, outdoor and cross-country titles in the same academic year. Life University of Georgia won the men’s championship.

Two Western Washington sophomores from Lewis and Clark High School did well. Mike Lynch ran a leg on the 4X100 relay team that placed seventh, and Sarah Hiss was 18th in the women’s triple jump at 35-7.