POCATELLO, Idaho- The Big Sky Indoor Track and Field Championships continued today with a variety of prelim events as well as finals in half of the field events, 5000m and distance medley relay. The Bengals showed impressive depth, as three silver medals were claimed, as well as multiple top-8 positions to claim points for both squads.
Men's Highlights
Tom Stoelken started off day one with an impressive showing in the heptathlon 60mH, with the second fastest time in the field (8.44s). He then followed that up with a mark in the pole vault that tied his PR (4.20m) and ran his heart out in the 1000m to secure the runner-up place in the championship. He now owns a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finish in the last 3 championship multis. In between heptathlon events,
Axel Tirado-Sanchez showed why he is the school record holder in the weight throw, as with pressure mounting on his final throw he launched himself from 8th to 2nd with a mark of 20.51m. Migail Van Huysteen also added points to the Bengal total, placing 7th in the pole vault with a leap of 4.70m
In the sprints, we saw
Alex Conner run a blazing time in the 200m of 21.25s to lead two other Bengals,Â
Khutsisa Rampete and
Jacob Webster in the finals, guaranteeing points for the men's squad tomorrow. Alex's time also puts him solidly into 2nd all-time in ISU indoor history in the event. Lastly, the distance medley relay squad consisting of
Sunny Gunn, Dalton Rassmussen,
Chase Markunas and
Gavin Pollock gave it their all against a loaded field and placed 4th, running 10:03.88 and adding 5 points to the men's total.
Women's Highlights
On the women's side, the highlight of the meet up to this point was the distance medley relay, consisting of
Ysanne Peart,
Ashley Reeck,
Natalya Babcock and
Kamber Scott, as this team obliterated the school record by over 7 seconds (11:40.39) and outran Idaho to claim a silver medal for the team. The previous school record had stood for 18 years since 2002.Â
The high jump saw more action for the women's squad, as
Tori Conrad recorded a new PR in the event to place 4th with a clearance of 1.71m.
Audrey Sampsen also scored valuable points for the team in the same event, clearing 1.68m and tying for 7th place, earning 1.5 additional points.
The Big Sky Championships conclude tomorrow at the ICCU Dome, starting at 10 am. The men's and women's titles will be decided and Idaho State will look to make their mark on the conference.
