AMBER WOLF | staff writer

Women's track and field were "lost in destination" due to their airline's mistake.

This past weekend, the men and women’s track and field teams traveled to Nampa, Idaho. This track meet is the only time during the year where the teams compete in an indoor facility during their indoor track and field season. The rest of the indoor season is held at outdoor venues because of the ideal weather conditions that Southern California provides.

The events went well for the men; however the women didn’t have such luck. Some of the women got stranded in the LAX airport on Friday morning because of stormy weather, which cancelled their flights.

“It had actually been cancelled the night before, but no one notified us. So, 29 of us were stranded without a flight,” senior thrower Megan Ilertsen said.

The women had to catch another flight on a different airline later in the morning, but only five were allowed on the flight. The rest had to catch the evening flight. The coaches hadput their heads together and decided which five they were going to pick for the morning flight.

“The priority list was mostly made based upon who still needed to qualify for nationals,” Illertsen said. “Fortunately, I was one of the people who still needed to qualify. So, I, along with the four girls on our distance medley relay, got our tickets changed and headed for Boise.”

When Ilertsen and the other women finally got to Idaho, they were rushed over to the meet. Illertsen ended up throwing her best throw of the season thus far, qualifying her for the nationals. Senior distance runner Whitney Jacobsmeyer was another lucky one who got on the earlier flight and qualified as well.

“Though we were without either of our coaches, Barnett or Grey, I was able to qualify in the 3000,” Jacobsmeyer said.

Meanwhile, the rest of the 24 women were stranded and 11 of them missed their events that day. Since some of the women missed their events, they competed in a high school meet in which they got practice for a strong season ahead, despite the mishaps. Senior Mandy Pohja and junior Lisa Louie pole vaulted while sophomore Erin Dwyer and senior Ruth Wilhelm threw.