Taylor Meeks
Sports Writer
The Idaho State University Track and Field men and women’s teams are looking to continue to improve in both individual and team performances in the upcoming 2019 season.
A large group of returners, including top athletes Anna Gardom, Shayla Henderson, Ashley VanVleet and Conner Tanner, look to compete in 2019 along with several newcomers.
“I’m really looking forward to when we finally get into competition,” redshirt-sophomore Ashley VanVleet said. “I think from just watching our team grow this year it’s been awesome to see the strides that we’ve taken. I am excited to see how everybody performs this year.”
The Bengals men’s and women’s track and field teams have been slated to finish ninth and tenth respectively in the indoor preseason poll released by Big Sky Conference officials.
Overall, the team last year didn’t place too high in the Big Sky. However, there were some impressive individual performances.
As a redshirt-freshman, VanVleet won her first Big Sky Conference championship title in the heptathlon with a score of 5,105 points. Sophomore Gardom and redshirt-freshman Tanner were awarded titles for the first time in the javelin throw and the 110m hurdles respectively this past season at the meet as well
Henderson, a junior, finished second in the pentathlon for indoor and third in the heptathlon for outdoor last season at the Big Sky meet and was named to the All-Conference team. Gardom, VanVleet and Tanner received this honor as well as sophomore Jakota Brown and freshman Ginger Nelson.
“We have some strong individual performers who will be returning for our teams and we are looking to them for some leadership and to continue to lead the way,” said head coach Hillary Merkley. “We do also have some gaps to fill indoors. I am excited about the development of some of our young returners and I think we will have some surprises as several of them are progressing and developing. In addition, we have some new transfer students who can help us be a better program. We have to respond and work towards tapping into the potential that I know is there. We are looking forward to the upcoming season and the opportunity to get better as a program.”
Despite some gaps for the upcoming season, to coach Merkley placement isn’t the main focus for this season.
“We don’t have any control over what other teams do and where other teams are going to place,” Merkley said. “The neat thing about track and field is you just go out and you take care of your own business and be competitive. That’s the thing we try to focus on and we encourage our kids to be invested in the process.”
According to the preseason polls, the men’s team received 38 points and the women’s team received 31 points. The more points a team receives, the higher the team is ranked.
Though both teams didn’t receive many points, Merkley doesn’t think the Big Sky preseason poll is a strong indicator of what her teams are capable of. Instead of an outcome goal, she is encouraging her teams to reach their potential, be confident and compete at the level they are capable of.
“We are just excited for the season to get started and to see where we are at and make improvements from there,” Merkley said. “We are anxious for this break to be over and for our kids to come back.”
