Ex-Husky Jordan Boase fourth in 400 at USA Indoor Championships...
Michael Courtney, an All-American from Sam Houston State University utilized a disciplined game plan in winning his first USA Indoor title.
Courtney, who ran a consistent pace throughout, gained on early leader Tavaris Tate as he began to fade on the final straightaway. Courtney finally passed him with about 15m to go, winning the race in 46.11 seconds. Tate held on to finish second in 46.53, with James Howell third in 46.57 and Boase fourth in 46.79.
To get to the finals, Boase, who currently is training out of the Nike campus in Beaverton, ran 47.36 in the qualifying round on Saturday.
Jillian Camarena-Williams broke a 24-year-old record in the shot put, while Jenn Suhr broke her own record on her way to winning the women’s 2011 Indoor Visa Championship Series title.
Camarena-Williams opened the second day of competition with a stunning 19.87/65-02.25 throw that broke the 24-year-old American record set by Ramona Pagel in 1987.
Suhr etched another line in the history books with a new American record of 4.86/15-11.25 in the Visa Women’s Pole Vault. Her mark also secured her 1,211 points to win the 2011 Indoor Visa Championship Series title.
On the men’s side, Mike Rodgers sprinted to a world leader in the BMW Men’s 60m to clench the men's Visa Championship Series crown, clocking 6.48 seconds, and earning a check for $25,000, the same amount given to Suhr, the women's Visa champ.
Rodgers' mark was worth 1220 points on the IAAF points table used to determine the men's and women's champs.
Complete day 2 results from the USA Indoor Championships are available here.
WEEKEND COLLEGIATE RECAP...
In New York, Olympia native Emily Walters from Seattle University won the long jump Sunday in the first day of the Great West Conference championships at the New Balance Armory.
Walters jumped 18-3 (5.56m) to better her previous school record of 17-3 1/2 (5.27m).
The Great West conference championships conclude Monday. Seattle University's release can be read here.
Eastern Washington junior Brad Wall was one of three Eastern Washington athletes to earn Big Sky titles, as he won the 400 at the Big Sky Conference championships in Pocatello, Idaho on Saturday.
On Friday, Erica Chaney won the 20-pound weight throw with a mark of 57-6.5, and distance runner Kyle King won the 5000 meter run, clocking 15:23.63.
The Eagle men placed fifth in the team competition with 67 points. The Hornet men grabbed the team title with 133 points, just a half of a point ahead of Northern Arizona (132.5). The Eastern women placed eighth overall with 45.5 points. Sacramento State claimed the team title as they racked up 144 points.
Eastern Washington's recap of the Big Sky Championships can be read here.
At the SPU Last Chance meet on Saturday at the Dempsey Indoor, Seattle Pacific pole vaulter Melissa Peaslee cleared 12 feet, 2¾ inches (3.73 meters). That not only was a season best, it was enough to launch her into the No. 8 spot in the national rankings.
“I'm ready for nationals,” a very bubbly Peaslee said after finishing her day's work. “I can get two good weeks of training in and get on bigger poles. It's my senior year, and I have nothing to lose anymore.”
While Peaslee is technically only a provisional qualifier, and the indoor meet typically allowing 12 to 14 competitors per event (13 pole vaulters made the field in 2010), she is far enough up the list to be off the bubble and bound for her third indoor nationals in Albuquerque in two weeks.
The results of the SPU Last Chance meet and the Seattle Pacific release can be read here.
NOTE: USA Track & Field, Seattle University, Eastern Washington University, and Seattle Pacific University contributed to this report.
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