Taylor Meeks
Sports Editor
The Idaho State University men and women’s track and field teams had another strong weekend of performances after hosting the 2020 Stacy Dragila Open on Friday, Jan. 17, inside Holt Arena.
The Bengals had top finishers in nearly every event on both the men and women’s side. The meet also marked the second home meet this season for Idaho State.
“I love being home because I don’t feel as stressed,” said junior Brooke Anger. “We have the home field advantage. We know the facility, and our pits are amazing.”
The meet kicked off with field events, including the pole vault, long jump and weight throw. Brianna VanVleet won the long jump with a mark of 5.45 meters (17’ 10.75”) and later placed second in the triple jump with a jump of 11.44m (37’ 6.5”).
Anger was perhaps the highlight of the women’s field events after she won the pole vault with a personal best height of 3.90m (12’ 9.50”). The mark tied her for sixth all-time in the ISU record book. Louise Lallement took second place behind Anger with a vault of 3.75m (12’ 3.5”).
“I think I changed my mindset a lot this season,” Anger said. “I decided that, regardless, I am going to have fun with it, stay positive, stay in a good mood, support my teammates at all times and try not to dwell into what I am thinking about. It’s been working, and I am super pumped about it.”
Ginger Nelson and Ashley VanVleet-Sturgis took second and third place, respectively, in the women’s high jump both with a mark of 1.67m (5’5.75”). Alyssa Gorrell and Madison Cicierski shined for the Bengals in the throwing events. Gorrell placed third after throwing a personal best distance of 13.37m (43’ 10.5”) in the shot put while Cicierski placed second in the weight throw with a mark of 16.10m (52’10”).
On the track, the women’s 4×400 team of VanVleet, VanVleet-Sturgis, Olivia Holmes and Indi Gallagher took second overall with a time of 3:58.33. The race proved to be one of the most exciting events of the day after Gallagher managed to close a five-meter gap in the last 100-meter stretch of the relay to beat out Montana State by seven one hundredths of a second.
In the women’s 400m, Holmes, VanVleet-Sturgis, Gallagher and Ashley Hutchinson took the first through fourth spots for Idaho State. Holmes ran a time of 58.51 seconds to secure the top position followed closely by VanVleet-Sturgis with a time of 58.52 seconds. Those times put them at seventh and eighth in the conference standings.
Gallagher ran a personal best time of 59.22 seconds and Hutchinson crossed the line in 1:00.96.
“We have our top people that round us out, but we need everybody on the bottom to be stepping up as well in order to have a well-rounded group,” said head coach Hillary Merkley. “A lot of people did that today, a lot of people got better today.”
In the distance events, Molly Olsen triumphed over competitors from two Big Sky Conference schools in Montana and Montana State to win the mile race. Her time of 4:58.54 was just two seconds shy of her personal best but jumped her to sixth in the conference standings.
Laura Alicke overcame a fierce back-and-forth battle in the 3,000m race against Montana competitors to take first place with a personal best time of 10:20.94.
“Every role matters,” Merkley said. “Having the new faces, having the people who are a little bit younger, like Laura today, be able to step into a position and be competitive, that makes us better as a team.”
Idaho State saw similar success on the men’s side of things. In the field events, Tyler Valenzuela won the pole vault with a height of 4.65m (15’ 3”). Owen Mitchel placed third in the high jump with a mark of 1.98m (6’8”).
Seth Jarus secured the win in the triple jump with a new personal record of 14.51m (47’7.25”). The senior jumped the distance on his first attempt of the day. The distance ties him for 10th all-time in the ISU record book and places him third in the Big Sky rankings.
“It was a pretty solid day,” Jarus said. “There’s a lot more to come. I am going to make adjustments and hopefully put down in the weeks to come.”
Following Jarus was Chase Gardom with a second-place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 13.82m (45’ 4.25”), a personal record for the ISU newcomer. Keegan Luker broke his personal record four separate times in just six attempts in the men’s weight throw. His final mark of 16.23m (53’ 3”) placed him second overall.
Back on the track, Treyshon Malone had another strong weekend as he took the 60m finals with a time of 6.90 seconds. He also went on to finish third in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.33 seconds. Tanner Connor returned to the 60mH to snatch up his first win of the year with a time of 7.95 seconds.
Finishing second place in the 400m was Cal Duke with a personal best time of 49.21 seconds. The time keeps him at No. three in the Big Sky standings.
In the men’s distance events, Joe Petty led the charge after winning the 3,000m over his opponents by 10 seconds. Jesse Allen posted a second-place finish in the mile race with a time of 4:18.64.
The Bengals hit the road for a couple of weeks starting with the MSU Dual Invite #1 in Bozeman, Mont. on Jan. 25. Later on, Idaho State will take a few competitors to the UW Invitational in Seattle, Wash. on Jan. 31.
“Next week we are on the road at Montana and that’s a place we are familiar with competing as well, so that will be good,” Merkley said. “We will see some of the teams we saw this weekend and get a chance to go up against them again, which is nice.”
