Day 2 Results

NAMPA, Idaho – University of Hawai'i high jumpers swept the top three spots for the second consecutive year at the Western Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships Friday at Jackson's Track.

 

Multi-sport athlete Amber Kaufman captured the gold medal with a jump of 5-9.25 (1.76m) to beat teammate Sarah Saddleton, who also cleared the same height but finished second due to the tiebreaker. Emily Sheppard, last year's indoor gold medalist, placed third with a mark of 5-8 (1.73m).

 

Kaufman, who captured the gold at last year's WAC Outdoor Championships, cleared her five opening heights in her first attempt but failed on three ties at 5-10.5 (1.79m). Saddleton, a freshman from Auckland, New Zealand, cleared her opening two heights on her first try but needed a third attempt to clear 5-7 (1.70m). She easily made her marks at 5-8 (1.73m) and 5-9.25 (1.76) but failed to clear 5-10.5 (1.79m).

 

Annett Wichmann, who one day earlier won the pentathlon for the third straight year, picked up five more team points for UH with a sixth place finish in the high jump and seventh place in the long jump. She cleared the bar at 5-5.75 (1.67m) and jumped 17-9.75 (5.43m). Wichmann is entered in five total events and has already scored 15 points in three events. She will compete in the triple jump and shot put on Saturday.

 

UH's distance medley team took fifth place with a time of 12:25.28 and picked up four team points. In the pole vault competition, senior Jessica Custance tied for seventh with a height of 12-0.5 (3.67m) and earned 1.5 team points.

 

A number of preliminary events took place, including the 800-meter run which Samantha Whitehall advanced to Saturday's finals with a time of 2:20.16.

 

The meet concludes on Saturday with UH athletes competing in event finals in the triple jump, shot put, 800-meter run, 3,000-meter run, and 4x400-meter relay. The Rainbow Wahine placed second at last year's competition, losing the title to Louisiana Tech by one point.