Skip to main content

Altitude and Fast Times at the Podium

[SPOKANE, Wash.] The Whitworth Invitational held on Saturday January 28 at the Podium indoor track facility turned out to be a rewarding competition for the Sasquatch men and women’s track squads.

The grind of the indoor season after a long fall of training and conditioning saw a number of student-athletes needing a rest thereby taking this meet off to heal up and recover. Those that did compete turned in some of the best results of the 2023 season so far this year for the team.

Gavin Hoskinson clearing 15 feet and 3 inches during the pole-vaulting competition at the Whitworth Invitational held at the Podium on January 28.Leading the way was the vault crew reaching new heights for the majority of those competing. Topping that list was Gavin Hoskinson who for the second week in a row jumped a personal and season best in clearing 15’ 3” (4.66M). Hoskinson cleared 14’6” last week at the Lauren McClusky meet in Moscow. His leap was just below the indoor school record of 15’7” set by Cade Neuman set back in 2018 and would rank in the top 16 all-time indoors and out. Hoskinson finished fifth overall in the meet against mostly NCAA I competition.

Lakotah Henderson was 10th overall with a season best of 13’ 9.75”, followed by Jacob Erlandsen jumping a season best of 13’ 3.75”, Rome Deakins had a season and personal best of 12’ 4”. Making her season debut for the women was freshman and volleyball standout Sydney Kinch who finished in 7th place overall and set a season and personal best clearing 10’.50”. Great performances for this group and a much-needed boost of confidence for this hard-working group.

The men’s sprint crew recorded some their fastest time of the season so far with a number of top performances against some outstanding competition of mostly NCAA schools and some of the top NAIA program in the nation.

Montana freshman Zach Merrifield continues to turn in fast times and improvement week after week. Last week Merrifield hit a season best in the 60m sprint at the meet in Moscow running 7.19. This week he upped that mark by blazing to a fast time of 7.13 good for the 4th fastest time in the qualifying rounds. He followed that up with his best time of the year later in the afternoon in the 200m sprint finishing 11th overall in a quality time of 22.92 on the banked oval. Teammates Christian Hansen and Andre Gonzalez also ran quick times in 60m sprint recording season bests of 7.28 and 7.37 respectively.

In the longer 400m sprint the Sasquatch saw once again the best times of the season come from freshmen Shaun Salveson running a season and personal indoor best finishing in 8th place overall in 51.46. Close behind was teammate a North Central grad Maximus Richmond who was 12th overall in 53.23. The excitement for the outdoor season and the strength of the sprint and relays will be an important element for this group headed toward the NWAC championship later this spring

The Sasquatch distance crew also made its season debut at this meet with a number of student-athletes competing for the first time this season. For the women’s squad Tabitha Koscielski ran the 800m in 2:39.00, Camille Ussher ran the mile in 5:53.29, and Sophia Ferraro competed in the 3K running 11:40.56. On the men’s side Zachery Kness ran the 800m in 2:05.11, Joel Martinez ran the mile in 4:41.85 and Gideon Swanson competed in the 3K running 9:52.50.

Up next is the WSU invitational scheduled for Friday and Saturday February 3rd and 4th at The Podium.

Posted On

2/1/2023 10:11:23 AM

Posted By

John Spatz

Tags

Men's Track and Field TrackField Women's Track and Field

Share this Story