The Washington State University track and field competitors won a combined eight events Friday and Saturday just across the border at the Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center in Moscow.

The 36^th Annual Vandal Indoor meet saw athletes from a slew of northwest schools including Montana, Whitworth, Eastern and Central Wash., Linfield, and Idaho among others.

The Cougar men won several individual events against their local adversaries, winning four Friday night, and four more Saturday. Cougar Head Coach Rick Sloan said the weekend’s meet was encouraging because he is starting to see improvement.

“There are a lot of areas where we are seeing a lot of improvement and people starting to perform at a much higher level,” Sloan said.

That improvement was highlighted by senior Joe Bartlett who won the shot put with a lifetime-best distance of 58-feet, ¼ inch heave after finishing third in the discus throw earlier.

Other performances of note included junior Brett Blanshan winning the 200 meter dash, freshman Aric Walden winning the men’s 60 meter hurdles, and Pac-10 triple jump champion Stephan Scott-Ellis who took his talents to the track and winning the 60 meter dash with a lifetime-best time of 7.05 seconds.

Coach Sloan said the weekend’s meet was good, but it was really a chance to fine tune before the season’s most challenging meets begin later this month.

“We have the Husky Classic next week and then back to Moscow in two weeks to tune-up for the Mountain Pacific Championship,” Sloan said. “That meet will be with BYU and Colorado in it now and it will be a terribly, terribly competitive meet.”

Next weekend, the Cougars will face off against their vaunted cross-state rivals at the Husky Classic in Seattle.