When the tears had dried from Hawai'i's one-point loss to Louisiana Tech at last weekend's Western Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Rainbow Wahine were left to reflect on what everyone outside their program had witnessed in startling detail.

They were immensely better than they had ever been before. All but unrecognizable.

When Hawai'i brought its program back in 2003, it did not have enough athletes to field an indoor team. A year later, it was ninth in the WAC with 14 points. There would be 20 more points in 2005, then 52 points and, last year, 53.5.

When the dust settled following the 4x400-meter relay Saturday in Boise, Hawai'i had more than doubled that with 121 points. It tripled its medal collection, with three golds, five silvers and two bronze.

Its best previous finish was sixth. This year it was a centimeter from a WAC championship, or 1-100th of a second, a lean at the tape, or a nick of a bar.

"We could look at it from 360 different degrees to find that (one) point," UH coach Carmyn James said, "but we did so much to get within one we didn't really lose."

The indoor season is nearly over. Annett Wichmann, ranked 12th in the country, will try to better last year's 11th-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships next weekend. Thrower Meghan Weaver and high jumpers Mallory Gilbert and Emily Sheppard will attempt to join her when they participate in a "Last Chance Qualifier" meet tomorrow in Seattle.

The bulk of the 'Bows are turning their attention to the outdoor season, which officially opens March 22 — and that elusive point.

"Going into the outdoor season I hope the girls are going to use that one point to fuel the fire and blow away LaTech at outdoors," said Gilbert, whose college eligibility ends next weekend. "It was very bittersweet, but we were more than thrilled our point total had doubled and all of us looked at our performances and knew we had become a team people feared.

"To have that feeling was so indescribable. I haven't had that feeling since high school, when I was in team sports. To have that team feeling ... I forgot how much I had missed it."

Gilbert's parents, who made the trip from Central California, confirmed the rare camaraderie in a vivid way.

"They said they were so happy they came," Gilbert recalled, "because it wouldn't have been the same if I had tried to describe it over the phone. It was definitely a feeling of being at the meet and seeing how everybody was competing."

When it was over, Gilbert said athletes and coaches came over to congratulate the second-place 'Bows. Nevada's coach told them they had been used as an example of what a track "team" should be during her team meeting.

Gilbert was practically a team by herself with 27 points — 16 more than New Mexico State.

On opening day she chased the dominant Wichmann in to give UH a 1-2 finish in pentathlon, setting personal bests in all but one of the five events. That included a mind-blowing drop of eight seconds in the 800.

Gilbert also won silver in a 1-2-3 Rainbow sweep of the high jump, and triple jump, which she tried on a whim "just to get the team a couple more points." The last time she officially competed in the triple was nearly three years ago, while still at Fresno City College. Her effort was so spontaneous she and Sheppard had to share shoes.

Gilbert, a former gymnast and cheerleader, was named WAC Field Event Athlete of the championship. And, unofficially, Hawai'i MVP for that weekend and maybe the next three months, even if she will be pursuing a masters in international health and nutrition and not a WAC championship.

"Patricia Gauthier said at the last team meeting how inspired she was by Mallory," James recalled. "She focuses on pole vault but she said she wanted to do other events. She can hurdle and sprint and wants to get back into it. Others want to, too, because they want to be like Mallory.

"We don't want to spread them too thin, so our big people don't get big points, but if the schedule permits ... a lesson has been learned that one point is a huge difference."

Even without Gilbert's 27 points, she and James are optimistic about the outdoor season. The Rainbow Wahine are strong in many of the additional events such as javelin, discus, hammer and 400 hurdles.

"To be that close was sort of bittersweet," James said. "We were all teary-eyed at the time, but now more time has passed and we see how huge an accomplishment it was. If anything, it has everybody so fired up for the WAC Outdoors in May."

NOTES

Meghan Weaver is ranked 21st nationally in the shot put going into tomorrow's meet. Mallory Gilbert and Emily Sheppard are both ranked 22nd in high jump. This is one of six "last-chance" meets being run across the country. Qualifiers for the NCAA Indoor Championship will be named Monday. The meet is next Friday and Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.