WSU's Ebba Jungmark wins NCAA high jump title...

Washington State freshman Ebba Jungmark (pronounced eh-bah yoon-mark) won the women's high jump Friday at the NCAA Div. I Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center at the University of Arkansas, in Fayetteville.

Jungmark (left/photo courtesy WSU Sports Information) from Onsala, Sweden, cleared the bar at 6-feet, 2 1/4 inches (1.89m), which improved her NCAA qualifying and personal-best mark of 6-2 (1.88m), set last month in Pullman. This is the second-best women's high jump in WSU history.

"My jumping felt so good and I felt so light," Jungmark said. "I felt like this was my competition. I wanted to jump so much. I had fun. It felt good today."

Cougar head coach Rick Sloan added, "Ebba did a terrific job of competing. She was less nervous in this national championship than she was at our home meet. She was calm and relaxed and had fun. She did a marvelous job."

In the women's high jump series, Jungmark cleared the first three bar heights on the first attempt and faced the bar set at 6-2 1/4 (1.89m) tied with two other jumpers. All three missed on their first attempt at this height but Jungmark cleared on the second attempt. She went on to attempt to high jump with the bar set at 6-3 1/2 (1.92m) and was very close to clearing on her first attempt, but did not clear at this height.

She is the second NCAA women's track indoor champion for Washington State, following in fellow high jumper Mary Moore's footsteps. Moore, who owns the school high jump record of 6-3, won NCAA titles in 1984 and 1985.

Jungmark arrived in Pullman and began classes at WSU in January of this year. She was a member of the Swedish national team and competed at the 2007 World Championships at Osaka, Japan, finished 11th in high jump after clearing 6-2. Her lifetime-best outdoor mark is 6-3 1/2 (1.93m) achieved June 10, 2007, at Kil, Sweden.

University of Washington senior Norris Frederick earned his sixth-career All-American award with a career-best second-place finish in the men's long jump.

Frederick jumped 26'-2 ¾" on his second attempt, taking command of the lead and holding it through the end of flight one. The jump was the second-best of Frederick's career and his best-ever long jump in six NCAA appearances.

It would not prove to be enough, however, as Cal State Northridge's Reindell Cole turned in a 26'-7 ¾" jump on his first attempt in flight two. None of Cole's next five jumps would again surpass Frederick, but Frederick was unable to retake the lead on his final three attempts.

"Norris had the best NCAA jump and finish of his career," said Husky head coach Greg Metcalf.

Frederick's six All-American honors tie him for third-most in Washington history along with another UW jumper for the ages--Rick Noji (1986-90).

All four Huskies competing on the track qualified for their even finals tomorrow, including UW's trio of women's milers, highlighting a memorable day for Washington running.

First on the track was junior men's sprinter Jordan Boase, competing in the 400-meters. Boase won his four-man heat with a last kick over the final 20-meters to edge Florida's Calvin Smith. Boase's time of 46.51 wound up being the second-fastest out of the 16 competitors, and he will go for the title on Saturday at 3:55 p.m. PT.

Washington State freshman Jeshua Anderson, ran a time of 47.69 seconds in the men's 400m dash preliminary heats which was 14th overall and did not qualify for the Saturday final. Anderson, from Woodland Hills, Calif., had run a WSU freshman school record time in the 400m of 46.67 earlier this season and had also set the school frosh record for the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.01 seconds. Anderson owns the national boys prep 300m hurdles record with a time of 35.28 seconds set in 2007. He was a wide receiver on the Cougars football team last fall playing in 12 games with 12 receptions and two touchdowns.

"Jeshua said his left foot was bothering him today," Sloan said.

WSU sophomore Trent Arrivey (Woodinville, Wash.) will compete in the men's high jump Saturday afternoon.

Next it was time for the Husky milers to shine. Senior Michelle Turner was off and running in the first heat, sticking to the inside in second-place for much of the race. She began to get passed early in the last lap and dropped to seventh, but dug down and sprinted to the line to finish fourth in a time of 4:42.77.

In the second and final heat, sophomore Katie Follett led for the majority of the race, with senior Amanda Miller in the middle of the pack. With two laps to go, Miller went wide and joined Follett in the lead, the Husky pair running side by side out front. Michigan's Nicole Edwards, the top seed coming in, pushed past Follett and Miller on the last lap and wound up winning, with Follett coming in second in 4:42.43 and Miller third in 4:42.98.

Turner, Follett, and Miller all advanced to the finals, giving the Huskies an amazing three out of the final 10 entrants. All three are assured of earning All-American honors.

"These three milers are going to go down as legends in Husky history. Now they just have to rest up for tomorrow's final and see what damage they can do," Metcalf said. "Each of them went out aggressive and was confident they could sustain it to the finish and they did."

Barely two hours after their mile run, Miller and Turner were back on the track for the distance medley relay. Follett, the usual anchor leg of the relay, gave way to junior Andrea Brown in order to rest for the mile final.

The Huskies finished 11th in the DMR in 11:29.02, well off their school-record 11:12.77 set earlier this season.

"The plan was to rest Katie if she qualified for the mile final," said Metcalf. "Andrea went out faster than she ever has in her leg but ran out of steam with around 400 meters left. Getting the NCAA experience for Andrea and Falesha will help them a great deal in the future."

Sophomore Scott Roth made his second-consecutive NCAA Indoor appearance, but settled for a tie for 10th-place. Roth cleared the bar at 17'-0 ¾" on his first attempt, but missed his three attempts at 17'-4 ½".

"Scott was never entirely healthy this whole season, and missed a lot of training because of it. But he's just a sophomore and still has many great meets ahead of him," said Metcalf.

By virtue of Frederick's eight points in the long jump, the Husky men are tied for 12th in the team standings.

University of Portland senior Michael Kilburg placed sixth in the 5,000-meter run. Kilburg, formerly from Seattle's O'Dea HS, earned All-America status with his time of 14:02.24.

Kilburg qualified for the national meet by posting a school record time of 13:49.88 at the UW Last Chance Indoor the previous Saturday.

"Michael ran a brilliant race holding back early and saving his energy for the second half of the race," Portland head coach Rob Conner said. "To earn All-America honors is a tremendous accomplishment. His effort is all the more amazing when you consider he qualified just last weekend. He has been a little tired the last couple of days, but after the race he felt great."

Frederick will go for a seventh All-American honor, this time in the high jump, and senior Kelley DiVesta goes into the women's pole vault as a top-eight seed.

Also, University of North Carolina junior Brie Felnagle from Tacoma competes in the finals of the women's 3000 meter run on Saturday.

NOTE--The sports information offices of the University of Washington, the University of North Carolina, the University of Portland, and Washington State University contributed to this report.

Live streaming video of the NCAA Championships is available at www.ladybacks.com.