Locally: First indoor track and field season at The Podium provides records and highlights from area athletes

The first indoor track and field season at The Podium in downtown Spokane has been one of firsts. The first this, the first that.

One Feb. 5 during the Washington State University Combined Events and Invitational was particularly notable: Montana State junior Duncan Hamilton produced the first sub-4-minute-mile in the facility, and just the third in Spokane County.

Hamilton clocked 3 minutes, 59.64 seconds for what the school called the “first outright sub-four mile of his college career.”

Former Oregon All-American A.J. Acosta (3:58.07) and ex-Oklahoma standout Riley Masters (3:59.23) both did it outdoors at the Spokane Summer Games at Spokane Falls CC in 2014.

• There were also several program records for area schools set during the Feb. 3-5 weekend at The Podium:

Maggie Nelson, an Eastern Washington senior from Liberty HS and Community Colleges of Spokane, set a school record in the women’s indoor pentathlon on Feb. 3. Her score of 3,604 points placed her fourth in the event and broke the school record of 3,597 set in 2019. Her previous best had been 3,425.

Gonzaga freshman Ellie Armbruster broke GU records in the women’s 200m (36.66 seconds) and 400m (59.51) on Feb. 4 and contributed to a school-record 4:04.38 in the women’s 4x400 relay with juniors Alyssa Bienfang and Emilee Groth and freshman Leighton Joy.

Idaho’s distance medley relay team of juniors Tim Stevens and Spencer Barrera (Mount Spokane), freshman Zac Bright and sophomore Lorenz Herrmann won the event at 9:48.41 on Feb. 5 and in the process shattered a 25-year-old school record by nearly six seconds.

College scene

Juniors James Mwaura of Gonzaga and Joe Gauthier of Eastern set school records in indoor track and field meets on Jan. 29.

In his first indoor race of the season, Mwaura finished fourth overall in the men’s 3,000m with a time of 7:54.50 at the Washington Invitational in Seattle to break the program record of 7:57.18 set in 2016. His PR had been 7:57.54.

Gauthier, competing in the Idaho Team Challenge in Moscow, won the men’s 60m dash, clocking 6.68. That not only broke the program record of 6.75 that stood for 23 years but also set a facility record. His best had been 6.77.

• Shamrock Campbell‘s career-high 30 points in an 81-72 home victory over Providence earned the Carroll College senior from Ferris his second straight Frontier Conference men’s basketball player of the week award on Jan. 31 and fourth of the season.

Campbell, who hit 11 of 15 shots from the field, including 5 of 7 3-pointers, scored the Saints’ final 10 points to help the 12th-ranked Saints quell a Providence rally that had cut the lead to five points. He also scored 20 in a 70-59 win at Rocky Mountain and averaged 3.5 rebounds in the two wins.

• For the fifth time this season and second straight, Boise State’s Tyson Degenhart was named the Mountain West Conference men’s basketball freshman of the week.

The Mount Spokane graduate averaged 11.0 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including 4 of 8 on 3-pointers, and 4.5 rpg as the Broncos extended a school-record winning streak to 14 with two wins. The streak ended in their next game, a 72-65 loss at Wyoming.

• In her first 5,000m on the track, Seattle Pacific’s Annika Esvelt turned in the second-fastest time in Division II this season (16 minutes, 31.74 seconds) at the UW Invitational and earned Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s indoor track athlete of the week on Jan. 31.

The freshman from West Valley HS placed second out of 18 finishers, 14 of them Division I runners, with the time that ranks No. 7 on the GNAC’s all-time List and No. 2 all-time at SPU.

• Ian Barville, a Montana Tech sophomore from University HS, was named the Frontier Conference men’s track athlete of the week for the week of Jan. 31 for being the top NAIA 800m runner at the Stacy Dragila Open at Idaho State. Barville timed 1 minute, 57:67 seconds in finishing sixth out of 32 runners.

• College of Idaho sophomore Logan Hunt (Timberlake of Spirit Lake, Idaho) was the Frontier Conference men’s indoor track athlete of the week on Jan. 31 after hitting the NAIA “A” qualifying standard in the 3000m at the Dragila Open. He was 12th out of 38 runners, clocking 8:44.59, running at 4,500 feet.

• Idaho’s Grady Leonard, a grad student from Coeur d’Alene HS, earned his second straight Big Sky Conference men’s indoor field athlete of the week on Jan. 31 after he threw 65 feet, 8¾ inches in the men’s weight throw and 57-8¼ in the men’s shot at the Idaho Team Challenge in Moscow. He ranks in the top 50 in the nation in both events.

• Whitworth swept Northwest Conference swimming athlete of the week honors for the week of Jan. 24-30 by freshmen who broke three school pool records.

Zachary Washburn received men’s honors after he broke Megan E. Thompson Aquatic Center records in the 50-yard freestyle (20.96 seconds) and 100 free (45.66), the latter a mark that had stood since 1986. He also helped the Pirates win two medley relays and was second to Division I swimmers in 200 free and 100 backstroke races.

Emma Thompson (Mead) earned women’s honors after she broke the pool 200 back record (2:05.70) among three individual wins in two meets and contributed to two relay victories.

• Four area athletes are among 39 from Washington State named to the 2021 Fall Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll that recognized athletes with GPAs of 3.3 or above in the fall sports of cross country, football, soccer and volleyball.

Cougars honored include Alaina Stone Boggs, sophomore, Colville, women’s cross country; Armani Marsh, redshirt senior, Gonzaga Prep, football; Seth Yost, RS sen., Lake City, football; and Bridget Rieken, junior, Lake City, women’s soccer.

• Four athletes from area high schools who are at least sophomores, three of them at Carroll, were named to the Frontier Conference 2021-22 Academic All-Conference Volleyball team with GPAs of 3.25 or higher.

Carroll: Kylie Kackman, jr., Colfax; Katherine McEuen, jr., Mead; Lexi Mikkelsen, sr., Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls. Montana Tech: Sydney Parks, sr., Post Falls.

Soccer

Telly Vunipola of Chino, California, a midfielder/forward who played the last two years at Syracuse after playing the first two of her collegiate career at Louisiana, has joined Washington State as a grad transfer out of the transfer portal and will have one year of eligibility.

“We are excited to add Telly to our WSU team this fall,” coach Todd Shulenberger said announcing the addition of the Cougars’ third Division I transfer. “She brings with her a ton of experience and versatility as an attacking midfielder and forward.”

Vunipola had two goals and two assists in a senior season at Syracuse limited to eight games by injury. The previous three seasons, she started 43 of 46 matches, eight of them in a pandemic-impacted junior year at Syracuse.