The Yotes concluded their regular season at two separate meets on Saturday. A contingent of middle-distance and distance athletes ran at the Oregon State High Performance meet in Corvallis, Oregon while the bulk of the team competed at the Bengal Invitational in Pocatello.
Oregon State High Performance Meet
The trek to sea-level proved worthwhile as the Yotes left Corvallis with a number of season bests, personal bests, and national standards. The Friday portion of the meet was highlighted by four national standards for the Yotes. In the women's 1500m, senior
Abbey Shirts ran just off of her season best time crossing the line in 4:28.71. The sixth-place effort by Shirts was well below the national standard for the NAIA Championships. Capping off the night a trio of athletes in the 5,000m achieved national standards as well. Junior
Ellyse Tingelstad continued her 2024 campaign with her second national standard of the season, running 17:18.34. On the men's side, juniors
Hayden Bostrom and
Elias Everist ran 14:39.21 and 14:43.83 respectively to dip under the NAIA national standard of 14:47.00. The meet concluded Saturday evening with
Abbey Shirts doubling back in the 800m. Shirts' time of 2:10.88 is just off her lifetime best and currently gives the senior the fourth best time in the country.
RESULTS
Bengal Invitational
The two day meet in Pocatello featured the majority of the team. Field events and middle-distance/distance events spread relatively evenly between the two days, while sprinting events had preliminary heats on Friday and finals for those who qualified on Saturday.
The fields featured largely Division 1 opponents. Despite this, two Yotes found themselves in the final sections on Saturday. Junior
Charlotte Bowman qualified for finals on Friday with her 12.22 effort in the 100m. The personal best time was good enough for a seventh-place finish and secured her a lane in Saturday's final. Remaining consistent, the junior finished seventh overall in the final with a time of 12.23 seconds. Two-sport athlete,
Hunter Gilbert put himself in a favorable position Friday by finishing second in the preliminary heat of the 400-meter hurdles clocking a time of 54.11 seconds. The final section on Saturday secured Gilbert's name among The College of Idaho track & field folklore. In only his fourth time ever competing in the event, Gilbert clocked a time of 53.68 seconds. The time not only secured the junior a win but was well under the NAIA National standard in the event.
The field events were highlighted by
Keenan Blair who continued his stellar freshman season in the shot put. Blair's mark of 15.45 meters secured an eighth-place finish at the Invitational and marks the second time the freshman has cracked the 50 foot barrier. In the long jump sophomore
Addison Trent showed she is ready for post-season competition as she leapt to a personal best wind-legal mark of 5.59 meters. The jump was well over the 18-foot mark and secured Trent a fifth-place finish in the event.
RESULTS
Looking Ahead
The Yotes will enjoy a weekend off as they prepare for the Cascade Conference Championships on May 10
th and 11
th. The meet will take place in Klamath Falls, Oregon and will feature the majority of the team. In total this season the men's team has attained a total of 117 conference qualifying marks. Not to be outdone the women's team has achieved a total of 122 conference marks. Events will begin Friday, May 10
th at 2:00pm PST with events concluding Saturday at 4:30pm PST.
INFORMATION
