Simplot Friday

Friday was a day of preliminary action but the times in the Girls' 60 Meter Hurdles sure did not look like
it.   Coming in to today's prelims Trinity Wilson & Dior Hall had the fastest times in the nation this indoor
season and they ran like they meant business in Pocatello.  It certainly helped, that for the first time ever,
that hurdlers in the prelims could wear spikes but even so the times were stunning.  Dior Hall ran 8.30 to
improve on Wilson's American best of 8.34 and then Wilson ran 8.37.  Sasha Wallace placed third with 8.53
& Deshaun Morrison ran 8.60 to take fourth.  Skyla Ross-Ranso came in fifth with 8.68.  Josie Kinney of
Summit HS in Bend, Oregon ran 9.81.  One can but wonder what tomorrow many bring.
     The sprinters in the flat races did not have the advantage of spikes but the times were brisk anyhow.
Leading the way was Hannah Cunliffe representing the Seattle Speed, who ran 8.60.  Chyna Ries was
just atad slower with her mark of 7.65.   Very fine efforts were also turned in by Marybeth Sant (7.67) &
Micha Auzenne, who ran 7.68.  Competition was so stiff that one needed to run 7.95 to qualify for
Saturday.   Just missing were freshman Sarah Stavig of the Seattle Speed, who ran 8.00 and Mimi Bain,
also from the Speed, whose mark was 8.02.  Amazingly Mimi is only an eighth grade student.
     Racing in the 800 Meter Run also demanded some pretty fine times and defending champion Jenna
Westaway of Canada topped the filed with 2:13.47.   Her first 400 went in 65.3, which was easily the
fastest of the day.   Kaela Edwards may not have started as fast but her final time was 2:13.52.  Ellie
Child clocked 2:14 and Shea Martinez sped home in 2:17.  With Vane Trofimenkoff & Aijae Jones
contributing marks of 2:20 action should be more than interesting on Saturday.  
    With five runners under 59 seconds tomorrow's 400 Meter Dash is promising & the best time of the day
was turned in by Ellisha Bryant with 57.12.   Sage Watson (57.46) & Ashley Bamberg (57.96) earned
second & third, while Chimere Ezumah (58.25) & ana Holland (58.44) should be able to challenge tomorrow
as well.  in all twith 50.89 and hireen runners broke a minute for the event.
   Cydney Brazeau topped qualifiers in both the Long Jump & the Triple Jump & Mackenzie Comstock
earned second in both events.   leading the way in the Pole Vault was Amanda Brazeau, who was followed
by Melanie hayes. Qualifying in fifth was Olivia Campbell of Hood River in Oregon.  Freshman Shayle
Christiansen had the best mark in the Shot Put & was followed by Cassidy Koski.  Montana's Lexy
Boschee will head the High Jump finalists with her top two challengers being Jannesa Benjamin and
Rachel Schlender.
    Byron Marshall was the only individual to break seven seconds (6.98) in the 60 Meter Dash but right
behind him with solid marks were marcus Harris Jr. (7.01), Austin Mitsch (7.04) and Jaylyn Mars (7.05)
Summit's Cole Thomas placed fifth with 7.07 & Damian Green of the Seattle Speed earned tenth (7.14).
T J Peay, also from Summit, ran 7.31.
    Devin Field was the class of the  60 Hurdles runners on this day with his time of 8.07.  Scott Carter
(8.21) & joseph Collett (8.27) took second & third respectively.  Jace Horak & Kolby Kester garnered the
next two berths in the final with 8.32 each.
     Tyler Smith was impressive with his clocking of 1:54.96 in the 800 meters.  Stryma Livingston, who
leads the nation in both the 500M & 600M and has one of the top times in the meter version of the half
mile came in second with a time of 1:56.38.   Kirk Webb (1:58.73) earned third, while Doug Raymer  
and Tanner Smith both ran versions of 1:59.   Sixth went to Nyssa, Oregon's Ryan Maag, who was running
for the YMCA Team from Idaho.  Ryan ran two minutes flat.
    There was not much separating the tims in the Mens' 400 but Ronny Hall gained the edge with his 51.42
mark.  Second went to Blake Adams & Blake Ellis followed in third with 51.14.  Lloyd Sicard qualified
fourth with 51.24 & Kordell Deffebaugh finished in 51.54.  Mike Wilson of Summit earned a trip to the finals
with 51.94.  Pocatello's Dylan Jones ran 53.21.
      As in the lastly covered race, action in the 200 Meters suggested a fair number of runners are capable
of victory tomorrow but Randall Bennett led the way with 22.62 to top Alex Mead by two-hundreths.  Isaiah
Valentine was third with 22.81 & Enyinna Isaquzo clocked 22.82.  Jake Jardine of Pocatello will race
tomorrow after after his fourteenth place effort.           
     Jireal Hipol, Ricky Strehlow & Scott Carter wenrt 1 - 2 -3 in both the Long Jump & Triple Jump but Matt
Moran of the Seattle Speed qualified in 9th place in the Long Jump.   Peter Chapman led qualifiers in the
Pole Vault & his top two challengers after Friday action were Shawcy Barber & Dallas Erisman.  The Shot
Put leader was cody Hanson, who was followed by Kevin Allen & Aaron Castle.   Nate Scoffield place first
among the High Jump qualifiers, while Aaron Campbell finished second.  Third was Aspen Frey and Twin
Falls leaper Ryan Carlson will compete tomorrow after his fifth place effort.