Brooks-Johnson wins second Pac-12 heptathlon title...
CORVALLIS, Oregon—Washington State’s Alissa Brooks-Johnson (above/photo by Howard Lao) won her second conference heptathlon as the Pac-12 Multi-Events championships concluded Sunday at the Whyte Track & Field Center on the campus of Oregon State University.
Brooks-Johnson, the 2015 champion in this event, did not win any of the three individual events contested, but was a model of consistency across the board.
The redshirt junior from Doty scored a season best 5638 points to take the conference crown from second place Kara Hallock of host Oregon State (5551), and third place finisher Lyndsey Lopes (5371) of USC.
Brooks-Johnson long jumped 18-7 (5.66m), then threw the javelin a season best 138-6 (42.22m), and finished the 800 meters in a time of 2:19.57.
“It was at first a little nerve-racking due to the fact that I didn’t compete indoors and got a late start,” she said.
“Overall I cam back competing pretty well, but not where I want to be yet.”
Disaster hit Liz Harper of the Cougs in day two, as Harper, who finished third at last year’s championship in Seattle, and was second to Brooks-Johnson at the break, finished a non-scoring ninth with a final total of 5038 points.
In the long jump, she jumped 17-6.25 (5.34m), well below her wind-aided outdoor season best of 18-5 (5.61m).
She threw the javelin 99-5 (30.31m), below her season best of 113-2 (34.50m), then fell and finished next to last in the 800, running 2:37.52, well below her PR of 2:14.03, and season best 2:17.53.
Lindsey Schäuble was 11th with a PR score of 4741, long jumping 17-6 (5.33m), throwing the javelin 98-10 (30.12m) and running the 800 in 2:25.21.
WSU head coach Wayne Phipps said, “It was very exciting to see Alissa repeat as Pac-12 champion, but on the other hand it was a battle for Liz. After putting herself in a great position after day one, Liz battled through a lingering knee injury through the long jump and javelin, then was tripped and fell very hard in the 800.”
Brooks-Johnson’s mark is currently the 10th best on the Division I performance list, and should get her into the NCAA championships next month in Eugene, as the multi-events aren’t contested in the regional championships.
Harper’s 5420 from the Mt. SAC Relays/California Invitational last month currently ranks #23 nationally, so she potentially could be bumped off pending the outcome of the various conference championship meets this week (top 24 performers go to nationals).
In the decathlon, Washington’s Cole Jensen finished seventh with a two-day score of 6577 points despite fouling out of the discus.
Jensen started the day with a wind-aided PR (2.1 mps, legal for multi-event competition) of 14.95, before fouling all three attempts in the discus for no points.
He vaulted 14-9 (4.50m), then threw a personal best 132-9 (40.47m), and finished the day by running the 1500 in 4:49.84, just under a second off of his personal best of 4:48.90.
Mitch Modin (7530) and Joe Delgado (7432) of Oregon went 1-2, followed by Cal’s Tyler Brendel (7413). First day leader Isaiah Oliver of Colorado was fourth with 7394 points.
The Pac-12 track and field championships resume Saturday and Sunday at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
NOTE: The Pac-12 Conference, Washington State University and the University of Washington contributed to this report.
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