The University of Idaho track and field team heads to Northridge, Calif., this weekend for the NCAA West Region Championships with its biggest group ever, as 21 Vandal athletes will try to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Since the Regional system was implemented in 2003, Idaho has had one Regional champion each on the men's and women's sides, both in the first year of the competition. Angela Whyte took the women's 100m hurdles crown and Jan Eitel won the men's 3,000m steeplechase, both in 2003.
This year, plenty of Vandals enter the competition in a position to make a championship run.
Senior Melinda Owen enters the weekend as the West Region's and the NCAA's top-ranked pole vaulter with a season-best height of 14-5.25. Senior Russ Winger has the NCAA's and West Region's second-best shot put of the season at 68-5.25 and also the West Region's fifth-best discus throw of 199-6. Junior Elvie Williams has hit 26-0.75 in the men's long jump this season, which ranks third in the West, while sophomore Mykael Bothum's school-record of 52-0 in the women's shot put ranks fifth.
Five is the magical number at the NCAA Regional Championships. The top five finishers in each regional championship will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, while the remainder of the championship field will be filled by a smaller group of at-large competitors.
Idaho's strongest event at the competition will be filled with the team's strongest athletes. The Vandals will send five athletes to compete in the hammer throw, four men and one woman. Leading the way is school-record-holder Marcus Mattox, a senior looking to earn his first career NCAA trip, who enters the competition with the region's seventh-best throw of 211-7. Junior Matt Wauters is close behind at eighth in the region with a season-best throw of 210-0, while sophomore James Rogan comes in with a throw of 203-2 to rank 13th and junior Jacob Boling's season-best throw of 190-3 is 30th in the region. Winger has also qualified in the event with a throw of 202-3, but will instead focus on the shot put and discus, his two stronger events. True freshman Gabby Midles will represent the Vandal women in the competition. The highest-ranked freshman in the region, she enters the competition with a best throw of 186-4 to rank 16th overall.
It will be a field-heavy weekend for Idaho, as only four track athletes will make the trip. Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year Paul Dittmer enters the men's 110m hurdles competition as the No. 12 athlete with a time of 13.98, while junior Christie Gordon represents Idaho's women in the 100m hurdles after running a lifetime-best time of 13.76 at the WAC Championships, which ranks 11th. Senior Bastien Tardy has the region's 16th-best men's 800m time at 1:50.11, while junior Allix Lee-Painter ranks 20th in the women's 3,000m steeplechase at 10:37.24.
Idaho will send three jumpers and four vaulters to the competition. In addition to Williams in the long jump, David Holmon enters the weekend with the region's eighth-best triple jump of 51-1. True freshman Alice Draser, fresh off her school-record effort at the WAC Championships, ranks 12th in the women's long jump with a best leap of 19-9.75. Owen and K.C. Dahlgren represent Idaho's women pole vaulters. Dahlgren ranks 10th in the region with a season-best height of 13-3.75. Reigning men's indoor and outdoor WAC champion Lucas Pope, a sophomore, has the region's 15th-best vault of 16-8.75, while school-record-holder Mike Carpenter, also just a sophomore, has a season-best of 17-1 to rank ninth.
As if the list of Vandal throwers wasn't long enough, there's still more. Sophomore Beau Whitney will make his NCAA Regional debut in the men's discus throw with a best throw of 170-4 to put him at 25th in the region. Redshirt freshman Anne Barnett's season-best throw of 142-10 ranks 26th in the region in the women's javelin, while junior Kyle Hook's throw of 206-0 in the men's javelin is the 20th-best in the West.
The meet kicks off Friday morning, starting with the women's hammer throw at 10 a.m. Live results will be available at www.gomatadors.cstv.com, while daily updates, quotes, results and stories will be posted at www.govandals.com.
