PULLMAN, Wash. – The Idaho field events put on a show at the WSU Indoor Open, as they broke three meet records, tied a school record and hit an NCAA automatic qualifying mark on Saturday.

Junior Mykael Bothum tied her own school record of 49-9¼ as she won the women’s shot put by nearly three feet and broke the meet record by two feet. She was three centimeters short of the NCAA provisional qualifying mark, but she wasn’t disappointed.

“It’s nice to come out in the first meet and do that,” Bothum said. “My goal was the break the school record and I had some good warm-up throws that actually went a little bit farther than that one. Now I’m just looking forward to next week.”

In the men’s shot put, Russ Winger won with a meet record and NCAA automatic mark for the second straight season. Any one of his six throws would have won the competition, as he cleared 60 feet on every attempt, but finished the day with a best of 64-2¼. He bested his own meet record of a year ago by nearly a foot and won the competition by nearly an 11-foot margin.

The toss is the best in the nation so far this year and is tied for fifth-best in the world, but Winger isn’t ready to rest quite yet.

“I came in knowing I wanted to throw about 64 and I threw 64,” Winger said. “It’s better than my opener last year. It was a decent series, but I still have a lot to work on.”

Idaho’s third meet record came in the jumps, where junior Kevin Pabst hit 23-9 in the long jump to win the event. Pabst had three straight fouls before getting the mark on his final attempt.

“I had some better attempts, but to mark one and get a decent jump out of it was really good,” Pabst said. “It wasn’t really too far, but it is always nice to get a meet record. I’m focused on next week already.”

Pabst came up just short of the NCAA provisional mark of 24-7¼, but did have two fouled jumps where he appeared to be past 24 feet. He also set a personal best with a 7.05 in the preliminary round of the 60m dash.

“He was hoping to go 24 feet and he actually did on a couple jumps that he fouled,” Idaho co-head coach Yogi Teevens said. “It’s a matter of just doing more runs. Kevin does a lot of events, so he doesn’t get as many reps as everyone else.”

Newcomer Alice Draser, a heptathlete, ran an impressive 8.98 in the 60m hurdles and was also the top collegiate finisher in the women’s long jump, as she hit 18-6½ in the event. Fellow heptathletes Lindsey Goodman and Darcy Collins took sixth and seventh, respectively in the long jump and Molly Burt took ninth.

“I was excited about the multi-athletes. They all did really well and we’re excited to do the pentathlon here next week to see where we are,” Teevens said. “I guarantee they’ll all be ahead of where they were last year.”

The team’s hurdlers, the only runners to make the trip and compete, had a solid outing as well. Juniors Heather Bergland and Christie Gordon ran 8.71 and 8.86, respectfully, in the preliminary heats of the 60m hurdles.

A pair of Vandal freshmen men’s hurdlers had impressive first showings, as well. Paul Dittmer, who comes to Idaho from Hanstedt, Germany, took third with an 8.15 in the 60m hurdles, while Maurice Shaw, who plays wide receiver for the Idaho football team, finished eighth at 8.66.

Idaho co-head coach Wayne Phipps said he was impressed with both runners because both are still early in their training. He also mentioned that Shaw had only run college hurdles, which are three inches higher than high school hurdles, a few times before.

Former athlete and current assistant coach Angela Whyte broke a pair of her own meet records as she ran an 8.12 in the 60m hurdle prelims and won the women’s 60m with a record time of 7.49.

The Vandals will be back in Pullman next weekend for the Cougar Indoor meet on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25-26.

Dahlgren hits provisional mark again at UW Indoor Preview

SEATTLE - K.C. Dahlgren was the top collegiate finisher at the UW Indoor Preview Saturday afternoon as she cleared 13-0.75 to take second overall in a field of 50 competitors in the pole vault.

It's the second straight provisional height for the junior, who cleared 13-1.5 two weekends ago at the Pole Vault Summit, where she finished second in the collegiate competition.

For the men, sophomore Mike Carpenter cleared 15-7.25 and took a judge's decision in fourth place on attempts, despite clearing the second-best height. Fellow sophomore vaulter Lucas Pope cleared 14-7.5 to take 10th in the competition that featured 43 athletes.