Vandal women second

Bevin Kennelly, Dee Olson and Melinda Owen all won individual titles, but Idaho’s bid to win the Western Athletic Conference women’s track and field title came up short in Honolulu on Saturday.

The Vandals totaled 145 points to finish second by 29 points to Louisiana Tech, which had a pair of 1-2-3-4 finishes in the 100 and 200 meters. Idaho’s men took third place, just three points behind Utah State as Boise State ran away with the title.

Olson was the busiest Vandal, adding the 1,500 title and a second behind Kennelly in the 5,000 to the 10,000 crown she won on Friday. Her time of 4 minutes, 22.03 seconds in the 1,500 was a meet record, breaking a 15-year-old mark by just .04.

Owen, meanwhile, cleared a lifetime best 13 feet, 6 1/4 inches in the pole vault to lead a 1-2 finish with teammate K.C. Dahlgren.

On the men’s side, Russ Winger captured the shot put championship with a throw of 63-11 and teammate Driss Yousfi won the 800 in 1:49.87.

A pair of north Idaho athletes had runner-up finishes for Boise State – Bonners Ferry’s Forest Braden in the 5,000 and Priest River’s Roger White, who cleared 6-7 in the high jump.

•Jon Jeffreys’ fifth-place finish in the javelin was the best Washington State could manage on a mostly dreadful first day of the Pacific-10 Conference championships in Eugene, Ore.

His throw of 214-6 accounted for four of the Cougars’ six points that left them last among men’s teams. WSU’s women have 14 and stand sixth, but their best showing Saturday was a sixth in the high jump by McKinnon Hanson, whose 5-8 3/4 leap qualified her for NCAA regionals.

A pair of 1-2 finishes in the steeplechase and 10,000 meters lifted Arizona State into the women’s team lead, while Arizona paces the men.

•Steeplechaser Kyle Anderson (9:17.00), long jumper Elvie Williams (22-8 1/2) and triple jumper Rashad Toussaint (48-2 1/2) won events for the Community Colleges of Spokane at the Ken Foreman Invitational in Seattle.