2008 Woodie Awards
BIG SKY CHAMPIONS
Major weekend for Idaho State Track and Field; Men place first overall.
Joe Williams
Issue date: 3/2/05 Section: Sports
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The Bengals totaled 141 points, which is the highest total in ISU history for an indoor meet. ISU finished 51.5 points clear of the runners up, Montana State, with 89.5 points. Weber State was third with 87.5, followed by Montana with 83, Northern Arizona with 72, Sacramento State with 67, Eastern Washington with 66, and Portland State with 54.
Dan Lai was named Big Sky Outstanding Track Athlete of the Meet. Lai came away with three gold medals and a bronze to lead ISU.
"I've been waiting five years for this. Five long years. It's just a wonderful feeling. I haven't eaten in two days, I can't sleep. I woke up at 7:30 this morning, which is early for me," Lai said.
Lai won gold in the 55-meter dash with a career best time of 6.31 seconds. Lai won gold in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.63 seconds and he was a member of the 4x400 relay team that won in 3:15.51. Lai brought home a bronze in the long jump. Lai also set a school record for individual points in the Big Sky Indoor Championships with 26.
"I'm very satisfied with finishing my career on this performance. I've never been able to say that. I can honestly say that I have no regrets. It's extra special for me for my team to be doing as well as they are," Lai said. "I've never experienced a team championship in my career. It's a great feeling. We all wanted to come out and do well, and it feels good that we've been able to do that."
The Bengals nearly made a clean sweep of the 400-meter dash. Matt Brown won gold, coming in with a time of 48.56 seconds, followed by Dean Connett with the silver in 48.66 seconds. Branko Teodorovic just missed an ISU sweep by finishing in fourth position.
"It feels good. All this hard work paid off and that's great. It feels good to help out the team a little bit," Brown said.
ISU also won gold in the men's medallists were Saheed Khan in the one mile run and Erik Whittsit in the shot put. Bronze medals were won by Matt Tyrell in the one mile run, Peter Komendant in the high jump, and Phillip Bettis in the pole vault.
The Bengal women, led by Tiffany Anderson, finished in fourth place with a score of 98.5. Weber State won the women's conference title with a score of 136.66.
They were followed by Northern Arizona with 121, Portland State with 104.83, ISU with 98.5, Eastern Washington with 65, Montana State with 55, Sacramento State with 49, and Montana with 33.
Anderson brought home three medals, one of each. She won the gold in the 400-meter dash with a time of 55.86 seconds. The silver came in the 4x400 meter relay and her bronze was in the 200-meter dash.
"It feels nice to stand on that podium and have all the training and work pay off. It'll help give me a little momentum going into the 200 finals. I'll be a little tired, but I think I should have just enough energy to do well," Anderson said.
Freshman Gemma Maini won the other gold for ISU in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:13.51.
"It was tough deciding between the mile and 800 meters. The 800 meters is my favorite event, it's what I've always done. I have a lot more experience with it," said Maini.
Bengal silver medallists were Linzy Morgan in the high jump, Michelle Railsback in the pole vault, and Monica Jensen in the triple jump. Solana Kline won bronze in the pole vault.
The end of the Bengals indoor season marks the beginning of the outdoor season, which begins March 19 when ISU will head to California for the CS Northridge Invitational.