Finally On Home Track, Muxen Makes A Splash
Before Dorothy and Toto realized there was no place like home, they at least had to know there was such a place.
But so seldom do the Idaho Vandals ever entertain at their own track that just the notion of a home meet is an exotic mystery - though Friday they discovered Dorothy had it right all along.
Just ask Josh Muxen.
The UI senior had never even run a steeplechase race at the Dan O’Brien Track and Field Complex prior to winning Friday’s Big West Conference final, an already taxing ordeal made tougher by a fairly fierce Palouse wind that often seemed to suspend runners in midair over the barriers. The wind Muxen could handle - he trains in it daily - but he was a little less sure of himself around the resurfaced O’Brien oval.
“The last meet we had here was two years ago and I ran an 800 and a 4x100 relay - that shows you how much we run on this track,” he said with a laugh. “You want to see something scary, it’s four distance guys in speed suits.
“But you know, its a lot of fun not having to travel and stay in a hotel and being able to compete in front of your family and friends.”
Not only fun, but inspiring.
The Vandals could hardly have written a better script for the first act of their run at defending Big West men’s champion Utah State, with Muxen’s victory highlighting a day in which they exceeded expectations in almost every event. Expecting to trail the Aggies by 30-odd points, Idaho finds itself just 14 back and well-positioned today.
The Idaho women are not quite in the same clover - Nevada having forged a whopping 97-36 edge heading into the last day. Still, the Vandals are on target for a top-three finish, thanks in large measure to a stunning 1-2-3-4 sweep in the shot put.
Two athletes wrote themselves into the record book.
Long Beach State’s Tayyiba Haneef - a towering 6-foot-7 loaner from the 49ers volleyball team - added nearly 2 inches to the women’s high jump record with a 6-1-1/4 clearance, winning by more than 5 inches. She had also won the event in 1998.
And Boise State’s Jarred Rome, a senior from Marysville, Wash., added more than 6 feet to the men’s discus record - and equaled the all-time Big West mark - with a 205-0 heave, which also got him an all-expenses-paid trip to the U.S. Olympic Trials in July. It was Rome’s third victory in his specialty - he won in 1997 and ‘98 before losing last year to injury.
Another thrower became a three-timer Friday - Utah State hammer thrower James Parker twirling 223-7 to add the 2000 title to his golds of 1995 and ‘99, between which he served a church mission. And USU’s Maurice Jenkins denied Long Beach’s Borya Celentano a third straight pole vault championship, winning at 17-3 on fewer misses.
Nevada’s women may not approach the record total of 243-1/2 Utah State amassed in 1996, but the Wolf Pack had a remarkable first day, led by Kyle McFarland’s defense of her title in the javelin and a 27-point pickup in that event.
Yet in many respects, the day belonged to the meet’s hosts.
Idaho’s women had just that one windfall of 29 points in the shot put, but it was a stirring competition that saw three different Vandals lead at one time - with possibly the most improbable one winding up first.
Freshman Katie Tuttle is the shortest and least imposing of the Vandals’ group of throwers. But after Aloha Santiago got the juices flowing with a lifetime best 47-5 and Katja Schreiber surged ahead with a 48-8 effort in round four, Tuttle responded. A 45-10-1/2 thrower this year, she got off four throws beyond 46 feet - topped by her last-round whopper of 48-11-3/4.
Senior Shana Ball, the conference leader at 51-2-3/4, finished fourth at 47-4-1/2, though she flew one out to the 50-foot line in the second round only to be flagged for a foot foul.