Progress!

We enjoyed another solid weekend of competition at the Mountain States Games hosted by Idaho State. We won two invitational events (high jump and 800 meters) and had several lifetime bests. Sophomore Langley Iverson (Reno, NV) won her first meet of the '10 season by clearing 5-7 1/2 in the high jump. That marked tied her season best from a week ago. True freshman Amanda Mergaert (Shelby Township, MI) won the 800 meter run in a new PR of 2:13.89.

Langley continues to put her run together and tweak her form. She had a couple of really good looks at 5-10 which is the NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Amanda ran the anchor 1600 meter leg on our distance medley relay the night before. So to come back with a PR on Saturday was impressive. She ran that race like a veteran.

Angie Kaplar ran 8.75 twice (prelims and finals) for new lifetime bests and a runner up finish in the 60 meter hurdles. Sarah Grimm was second in the weight throw. Our sprinters all ran well in the 200 meter dash prelims with several PR's. Lauryn McKay ran a lifetime best 400 meter leg on the DMR and followed that up with a personal best in the open 400 on Saturday.

All of our young distance runners in the 3K improved by 5-12 seconds apiece. I'm really enjoying seeing different athletes step up each week and continue to improve. We're still not where we want to be as a team, but our young group has been aggressive and these performances will only help us move the program forward as a whole.

We will send 16 athletes to Seattle, WA to compete at the Husky Classic and seven others to Iowa State and the ISU Classic next weekend. We will be looking for possible NCAA and USA indoor national qualifying marks.