ASHEVILLE, N.C. — College of Idaho track and field battled through rapidly changing weather conditions on Wednesday during the opening day of the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.
The day began under clear skies with senior Taylor Durfey in the women's hammer throw. Durfey capped her collegiate career with a 19th-place finish, recording a mark of 49.04 meters (160-10), outperforming her pre-meet seeding.
Competition was halted for approximately 90 minutes due to a weather delay, pushing back the running schedule and creating a stop-and-start rhythm for the remainder of the day. Following the delay, freshman Evan Anderson made his NAIA Championships debut in the men's javelin, recording a throw of 50.72 meters (166-5).
Action on the track resumed with the delayed women's 1,500-meter preliminaries, where Kiely Munson and Julia Gilbert represented the Yotes. Munson placed 12th overall in 4:39.41, securing the final qualifying spot for Friday's championship final in her first individual appearance on the national stage. Gilbert finished just behind in 13th at 4:40.78.
The quartet of Gilbert, Mattie Shirts, Macy Eggart and Munson later teamed up in the women's 4x800-meter relay, clocking a time of 9:37.94.
Late in the evening, Paiten Braseth competed in the opening heat of the women's steeplechase preliminaries before severe weather once again impacted the schedule. With lightning in the area and no clear window to resume competition, meet officials postponed the remaining heats of the women's and men's steeplechase, along with the 10,000 meter runs, to Thursday. Braseth will await the completion of Thursday's second heat to determine if her time advances her to the final. Kylee Quinton and Josie Patton will run in Thursday's second steeplechase heat then Ashton Drage (steeplechase) and Rozzlyn Cazier (10,000m) will run their make-ups.
The Yotes will return to action Thursday as the championship meet continues, seeing Keenan Blair and Helene Rae for the first time this week, both in the shot put. Kylee Quinton will complete a double, with the 800m coming shortly after the rescheduled steeplechase prelim. For more meet information click here.
