MOSCOW — Idaho indoor track and field will open the 2019 season with the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open in the Kibbie Dome, beginning today at 10:40 a.m. and running through Saturday.
UI’s staff reached out to the late McCluskey’s family and was given the OK to rename the season-opening event after the former University of Utah runner and Pullman High graduate, who was murdered in October at Salt Lake City.
“When we got here in 2014, Lauren was a senior in high school and we recruited her,” UI track and field/cross country coach Tim Cawley said, quoted in a written news release. “I think she was one of the first athletes I met. She and her mom were out on the track training, because she was over here training all the time. She competed at all of the indoor meets. She was just a fixture around the Dome and we wanted to honor her this year, just do something to honor her memory.”
Midway through Saturday’s running events, the meet will break for a video presentation and moment of silence in McCluskey’s memory.
UI returns seven with NCAA experience this season.
“We already have a bit of a glimpse of where our distance team is at this point, from the cross country season,” Cawley said. “Every time we do (offseason testing) we’re rewriting the record books. Everything is moving in the right direction.”
