Brad Walker wins fourth national indoor pole vault title; Roth earns spot on world champs squad...
Walker, a former world indoor champion in 2006, and the 2007 world outdoor champion, opened with a make at 18-2 (5.54m), then passed two heights before clinching the win at 18-9 1/4 (5.72m) on his first attempt.
He then cleared 19-2 3/4 (5.86m) on his first attempt, then took three tries at 19-8 1/4 (6.00), missing all three times.
Walker's victory marked his fourth career USA indoor title.
Roth got the other ticket to Istanbul by making 17-11 3/4 (5.48m) on his first, then clearing 18-4 1/2 on his second attempt, a height cleared by third place finisher Mark Hollis on his third. That second attempt clearance proved to be the difference.
Afterwards, Walker said, “It was good. It was a good competition. You have to wait around sometimes indoors, and it wasn't a big deal."
“I'm happy with the way I felt and the way I jumped, but technically there are some things I can work on and improve.”
Roth's training partner and former NCAA champion Jason Colwick no-heighted, missing all three tries at 17-11 3/4 (5.48m).
One man who may or may not be going to Istanbul is Husky alum Norris Frederick, who finished third in the long jump with a best of 26-2 3/4 (7.99m).
Oregon alum Ashton Eaton, who is already going to Istanbul in the heptathlon, won the competition with a jump of 26-5 1/2 (8.06m) over Saturday's triple jump winner, Will Claye, who jumped 26-3 3/4 (8.02m).
The situation is muddied, as Eaton is already going to Istanbul in the heptathlon. If he were to try a LJ/heptathlon double, the qualifying round in the long jump on March 9th would start 30 minutes before the start of the heptathlon high jump, which is one of Eaton's specialties.
In the case of Claye, the triple jump qualifying round is in the morning of March 10th, with the finals in the long jump that evening. Additionally, Claye is the only one of the entrants at the USA indoors who has the qualifying standard of 8.15 meters (26-9) during the qualifying period, which began on January 1, 2011.
The qualifying standards and restrictions for the world indoors is posted here. If one is reading the standards correctly, it means that Claye is the only one eligible to represent the USA at world indoors. If Claye concentrates on the triple jump, that potentially means the USA will have no competitors in the long jump.
paulmerca.blogspot.com received a text from Frederick stating that he was waiting on USATF, as they were waiting on a decision from Eaton.
Bottom line? Stay tuned.
In other events, Gig Harbor's Mark Wieczorek was third in the 800, running 1:49.96, while Seattle's Kevin Hicks was sixth in 1:50.12.
Former Husky Katie (Follett) Mackey was seventh in the 1500 with a time of 4:22.43, while Seattle's Rose Wetzel of Club Northwest was 18th in 4:34.29.
Complete day 2 results from the USA Indoor Championships are available here.
COLLEGIATE ROUND-UP
At the Great West Indoor championships in Sterling, Illinois, freshman Cali Cull from Seattle University won the women's triple jump title, with a mark of 36-5.5 (11.11m).
For the second straight day, Erik Barkhaus finished second in an event, this time in the men's 3000 meter run after posting a time of 8:33.81, just 1.25 seconds behind the winner.
The Seattle University women finished fourth in the team standings with 79 points, while the men finished in sixth place with 57.5 points. Utah Valley cruised to the conference titles in both men's and women's indoor track and field.
You can read SeattleU's complete release here.
At the Big Sky Conference meet in Flagstaff, Arizona, Eastern Washington's Keisa Monterola won the women's pole vault title with a leap of 14-2 (4.32m) and was named the meet's outstanding female performer.
"I was aiming for 14-5, but I still feel great. I'm peaking off with 14-2. 14-5 would've been a PR and an Olympic 'B' standard. I'm really excited (to be the Venezuelan record holder) and I know I'll keep on jumping because I know that 14-5 will be there soon."
The Eagles also picked up victories from Steven Warner in the men's 60 hurdles (8.07) and its 4 x 400 meter relay squad of Collin Green, Michael Okoro, Brad Michael and Brad Wall, as they ran 3:12.11.
Michael and Wall finished 2-3 in the open 400, running 46.97, and 47.07, as Wall's hopes of winning a fourth straight Big Sky indoor title were snapped by Northern Arizona's Adel al Nasser, who ran 46.80 for the win.
The Eagle men's team finished third with 88 points, as Northern Arizona won with 215 points. On the women's side, Weber State won with 132, while the Eagles finished eighth with 45 points.
Complete results from the Big Sky Conference championship meet is available here.
At the SPU Last Chance meet Saturday at the Dempsey following the conclusion of the MPSF meet, Seattle Pacific senior Schumacher and sophomore Fricker moved into the national top 12 on Saturday with strong performances in the pole vault and 800 meters.
Schumacher's clearance of 12-3.5 (3.75m) was a personal best and put her tied for tenth on the national Division II list.
Fricker climbed up to No. 12 in the 800 with an astounding run of 2 minutes, 12.67 seconds. That was nearly three full seconds better than the PR of 2:15.53 that she ran in winning the GNAC title last Saturday in Nampa, Idaho.
You can read Seattle Pacific's release and results here.
NOTE: USA Track & Field, the Big Sky Conference, SeattleU, and Seattle Pacific all contributed to this report.
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