WSU's Jeshua Anderson a double winner; Holly Parent upsets NCAA indoor high jump champ...

TUSCON, Arizona--On the track that will host the final Pac-10 track & field championships next month, Washington State's Jeshua Anderson (left/photo by Mike Scott) and Holly Parent made strong showings at the Jim Click Shootout, featuring teams from Ohio State and Minnesota, along with host Arizona.

Anderson, a senior who is the two-time NCAA champion in the 400m hurdles and a candidate for the Bowerman Award, was a double winner taking the 110m hurdles with a wind-aided personal-best time of 13.86 seconds, and winning the 400m hurdles with a time of 49.33. He also anchored the winning 4x400m relay (3:10.07).

Holly Parent won the women's high jump with a PR leap of 6-feet, 3/4 inches (1.85m) which is the fourth-best height all-time for a Cougar woman high jumper. Arizona's Brigetta Barrett, the 2011 NCAA Indoor champion, finished second after also clearing 6-0 3/4 but missed on her first attempt at the final height as Parent cleared on the first attempt.

The Cougars' 1-2 punch of Marissa Tschida and Courtney Kirkwood went one-two in the women's javelin with Tschida, the defending Pacific-10 Conference champion, throwing 171-0 (52.13m) and Kirkwood finishing second with a throw of 169-5 (51.64m). The defending Big Ten Conference champion, Ohio State's Maggie Mullen, placed third with a throw of 152-9 (46.55m).

In the men's team scoring, Ohio State won with 161 points followed by Minnesota with 157, Arizona with 156 points and Washington State with 151. Arizona claimed the women's team title with 176 points followed by Ohio State with 169, Washington State with 162, and Minnesota with 155.

"I am very proud of the way our team competed against the University of Arizona and the two Big Ten teams. We were leading at a certain point on both sides and we accomplished what we came here to do," WSU Head Coach Rick Sloan said. "We had some spectacular marks and some people really made significant improvements today."

"I felt this was a great event. Fred Harvey and his staff at Arizona and Jim Click, the sponsor, really put on a great show. It was a great track and field meet under very warm, sunny skies," Sloan said. "We would have liked to have won but we had some great team performances and both the men's and women's teams have moved to base camp two on the summit of Everest. We have moved to a different plateau. We are ready to take that as our base platform and move to the next one."

You can read the Washington State press release here.

The Cougar track and field teams will compete next weekend at the Texas Relays in Austin and at the Oregon-Washington Clash III hosted by Community Colleges of Spokane.

Complete results from the Jim Click Shootout are available here.

On Friday, Washington State's Sean Harris reached a lifetime-best total of 6,641 points in the decathlon portion of the Jim Click Shootout, as he surpassed his previous decathlon PR by 410 points to take ninth place among the 16 competitors who completed the 10 events.

After Harris garnered lifetime-best marks in four events Thursday, he reached PRs in four more events Friday. Harris ran a PR time in the 110m hurdles of 15.23 seconds, threw the discus 135-feet, 1 inch (41.17m), pole vaulted a PR height of 13-9 1/4 (4.20m), threw the javelin a PR distance of 167-9 (51.14m), and ran the 1500m in 5:14.78, taking more than 21 seconds off his previous best time.

Canadian Damian Warner, competing unattached, won the decathlon with 7,632 points.

Angela Jensen, a senior from Tacoma, scored a total of 4,742 points in the heptathlon, eighth-best among the 13 competitors. Friday, Jensen long jumped 16-1 3/4 (4.92m), threw the javelin 102-9 (31.31m), and ran the 800m in a time of 2:32.63.

Colorado State graduate Emily Pearson won the heptathlon with 5,647 points.

In Missoula, Eastern Washington's women's team swept Montana and Montana State in the triple-dual meet format at the Al Manuel Invitational in Missoula, Montana, defeating Montana 106-88, and Montana State 96-95.

In the men's team competition, the Eagles split, beating Montana 107-86, but bowing to Montana State 104-91.

Sprinter Whitney Leavitt was a double winner for Eastern in the 100 and 200 (12.40/25.48). Other winners for the Eagles included Erica Chaney in the discus (150-11/46.01m), and Haley Tank in the javelin (132-2/40.29m).

For the Eagle men's squad, Brad Wall won the 100 in 11.19, but was beaten in the 200 by teammate Michael Okoro 22.14 to 22.38. Kurt Williams won both the long and triple jump in 21-11.5 (6.69m) and 45-11.25 (14.00m). The Eagles won both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays in 42.25, and 3:21.74.

Gonzaga entered several athletes in the Al Manuel meet, with Laura Volcheff the highest placer, finishing second in the 5000m in 18:03.59. On the men's side, Matt Gosselin was the Bulldogs' highest placer, finishing second in the 800 at 1:58.10.


Complete results from the Al Manuel meet are available here.

Seattle University's Bo Anderson beat his own record in the shot put, placing second with a toss of 14.81 meters (48-07.25) at the JD Shotwell Invitational on the campus of the University of Puget Sound.

Josh Walters set a school record in the hammer throw with a distance of 42.56 meters (139-07), Sara Blakely also set a new record in the hammer throw with a throw of 30.67 meters (100-07).

The majority of SeattleU's squad competed Saturday at Willamette University's Invitational, with Emily Walters beating her own school record in the 100 meter hurdles, placing seventh with a time of 15.59.

On Friday night, SeattleU senior Michael Van Nuland finished second in the 3000 meter steeplechase in a time of 9:28.97, over 12 seconds faster than the old school record set almost eight years ago.

You can read SeattleU's release here.

NOTE: The sports information offices of Washington State, the University of Montana, and Seattle University contributed to this report.

Comments