Idaho State track and field wrapped up day one of the 2022 Mountain State Game in Holt Arena. The meet was highlighted by the Idaho State DMR team breaking the school record in the event previously set in 1998.
The final event of the evening was the distance medley relay. This was the first time that the Bengals had competed in the event this season. The raced started with Madi Kenyon running the 1200. She was followed by Presley Timmons in the 800 who closed the gap with runners from Utah State and Utah Valley. Payton Durocher took the baton and made a pivotal pass on Utah State to put the Bengals in second headed into the final baton pass. Molly Olsen, running anchor for the squad in the mile, took the baton and simultaneously took over the race. The Graduate Student runner showed her experience and ran a 4:56.00 mile to close out the race and secure the new ISU record.
The team’s time of 11:48.15 shattered the previous record of 11:54.90 set in 1998 by Muler, Howard, Kohler, Vaughn.
The meet started with the women’s pentathlon and the men’s heptathlon. In the pentathlon the Bengals finished with first, second and fourth-place spots.
Ashley VanVleet-Sturgis won the event, finishing second and third in the 60mH and high jump. Then winning three events in a row; shot put, the long jump and the 800m. VanVleet-Sturgis finished with a season’s best 3820 points.
Right behind her was Brianna Hagler. Hagler was on a roll during the event, setting new personal bests in the shot put and high jump with marks of 5’ 6” and 37’ 4” respectively.
Coming in fourth for the Bengals was Kylee Dimick who finished with a personal best 3317 points.
The Bengal men began the heptathlon Friday. After one day of competition Michael Shulikov is in second place with a total of 2732 points. Shulikov finished second in the final three events of the day.
The heptathletes will finish the event starting tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. MT.
Aubree Denker qualified for tomorrows 60m dash finals running a PR prelim time of 8.06 seconds.
Two Bengal women qualified for tomorrow’s 200m final. Bengal newcomer Tenleigh Smith ran a personal best time of 26.37 and Darby Soliday in her first career 200m race for the Bengals qualified with a time of 26.40.
Elizabeth Butler ran the fastest qualifying mark in the 400m prelims with a time of 58.02 seconds. Smith and Soliday also qualified for tomorrow’s 400m final.
Coming back for one final prelim, Soliday qualified for tomorrow’s finals in the 60mH with a time of 9.21 seconds.
Brooke Anger won the pole vault with a vault of 3.98m (12’ 9.5”). The senior vaulter was just below her PR on her final attempts. Lindsey Jones-Sagendorf came in second with a mark of 3.70m (12’ 1.5”).
On the men’s side, Kodee Vining and Connor Maloney qualified for tomorrow’s 60m dash. Vining ran the third-fastest qualifying time of 7.08 and Maloney qualified with a time of 7.15 seconds.
Vining came back to take the top spot in the men’s 200m preliminaries along with two other Bengals. Vining qualified with a time of 21.81 he was followed by Maloney with a time of 22.71 and Nashdunn Lewis who ran the race in 23.07.
Bengal freshman Zacary Cox ran the fastest preliminary 400m dash with a personal record time of 49.76 seconds. He was followed by Brett Bronson who ran a qualifying 50.25.
Cox came back in the 60mH and ran a personal best 8.16 seconds, the fifth fastest time in Idaho State history. The mark is good for 6th in the conference this season.
The Bengal men dominated the shot put Friday evening sweeping first through fourth In the event. Zack Ramos picked up his 4th win of the year with a throw of 16.77 (54’ 2”). Ryan Spaeth came in second with a PR throw of 15.78 (51’ 9.25”). Axel Sanchez came in third also PR’ing with a throw of 15.57m (51’ 1”). The Bengal throwers were rounded out by Keegan Luker who came in fourth with a throw of 15.48 (59 9.5”)
Looking Ahead
The Bengals continue the Mountain State Games tomorrow starting at 9:00 AM with the conclusion of the men’s heptathlon.
Follow along at ISUBengals.com to keep up to date with the team and don’t forget to follow along on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
