GREELEY, Colo. – The Big Sky Championships are finally here and the Vandals are poised to have a tremendous meet in just their second year in the conference.
Competition officially begins on Wednesday with the decathlon and the heptathlon. Both events will wrap up on Thursday, with the individual events beginning on Friday. For the complete schedule, check the link to the right (all times Mountain).
Idaho has a number of athletes in prime positions to be successful over the weekend. Senior distance runner Kinsey Gomez is ranked first in three events, holding a six-second advantage in the 5000-meters. Gomez has already had an incredible season, shattering the 35-year old 10,000-meters school record, moving into third in the 5000-meters and fourth in the 1500-meters in program history. Gomez will compete in the 5000-meters and the 1500-meters.
Fellow senior Ben Ayesu-Attah enters the meet ranked first in the 400-meters with a season-best time of 46.60 seconds. Ayesu-Attah is also seeded eighth in the 200-meters after posting a season-best time of 21.60 seconds at the Border Clash.
Zion Stuffle has had a breakout season so far and enters the Championships with the second fastest 400-meter hurdles time in the conference (52.75 seconds). Arphaxad Carroll also has high hopes entering the weekend, as he currently sits atop the long jump rankings at 7.44 meters.
Matt Sullivan enters the weekend ranked third in the pole vault at 5.03 meters. Sullivan placed second at the Indoor Championships in February. In the triple jump, freshman Jonny Magee is tied for third at 14.51 meters. Nathan Stark is projected to take third in the 3000-meter steeplechase after posting a season-best time of 9:05.58 at the Mt. SAC Relays. Stark will also be competing in the 1500-meters.
Faith Eruwa is ranked third in the women's triple jump after posting a season-best leap of 11.77 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational in April.
Katelyn Peterson will look to defend her title after winning the high jump at last season's Championship. Peterson enters the meet ranked fourth in the conference after clearing 1.66 meters, but her championship-winning jump from last season (1.73 meters) would be tied for the top mark in the Big Sky this year.
In the javelin, the Vandals have three athletes with qualifying marks. Ian Middleton leads the way with a throw of 66.63 meters, the third best mark in the conference this season. Derek Haas is currently ranked seventh, while Austin Beyer is ninth.
Drew Thompson enters the decathlon ranked fifth after posting a season-best score of 6296 points at the Mt. SAC Relays/CA Invitational Multi Events. Thompson has also qualified in the 110-meter hurdles.
Andrea Pikes will be competing in both the 100- and 200-meter dash events. Pikes is currently ranked sixth in the 100-meters at 11.92 seconds.
Marquita Palmer will take on the 800-meters at the Championships. She is ranked seventh with a season-best time of 2:11.53. Kolcie Bates will be competing in two events, the hammer throw and the discus. Bates is ranked seventh in the conference in the discus with a season-best throw of 44.27 meters.
For the complete lineup and schedule, check the links to the right.
Check back with GoVandals.com each day for the complete recaps.
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