OTC/Portland's Bumbalough & Jager go 1-2 to close out Dempsey Indoor season...
Bumbalough, the Georgetown University alum, and world championships competitor in the 5000 last year, pulled away from Jager, a world championships competitor in the 5000 from the 2009 meet in Berlin, to win the men's 3000 in a meet record time of 7:44.45, just over a second away from the facility record of 7:43.08 set by North Carolina State's Ryan Hill at last month's Husky Classic.
Jager, who had been battling injuries over the last few months, finished strongly in second in a time of 7:46.42.
Pending the results of other last chance indoor meets from around the country, Bumbalough's time is the second fastest time run by an American this season regardless of track size, with only Hill's mark faster.
World championships marathoner and Washington alum Mike Sayenko finished fourth in 8:04.12.
Courtesy of media partner RunnerSpace.com, here is video of the men's 3000:
In the women's 3000, Stanford freshman Aisling Cuffe, the 2011 USA junior cross country champion, powered to victory, ducking under the 9:10 NCAA qualifying mark with a time of 9:07.79, setting a new meet record.
In the process, she pulled Loyola Marymount's Tara Erdmann under the NCAA standard, running 9:08.85, which marked the second consecutive year that Erdmann had qualified for nationals in the 3000 at this meet.
In the men's mile, former Army standout John Mickowski led four men under four minutes, including world championships steepler Dan Huling in becoming the 83rd-86th men to crack the barrier since the Dempsey opened for racing in 2002.
Other highlights:
--Arizona State's Bryan McBride cleared 7-3 3/4 (2.23m) to win the men's high jump and put himself in a position to get into the NCAA championships (NCAA standard is 7-4.25/2.24m);
--The Huskies' JJ Julifs won a jump-off with former Husky Ryan Vu and Western Washington alum Ryan Brown in a personal best of 17-8 1/4 (5.39m), which ties him for 14th on the NCAA D-1 list, which should get him into the NCAA meet;
--Nevada's La Tijera Avery leaped 6-0 (1.83m) to win the women's high jump, but will be on the bubble to get into the championship meet;
--Oregon State's Laura Carlyle won the mile in 4:37.57, over three seconds up on the Huskies' Chelsea Orr, but will have to wait to find out whether or not she gets into the NCAA meet. Orr will be in the meet as a member of the Huskies' distance medley relay squad;
--With reigning NCAA, USA, and World University Games 400 hurdles champion Jeshua Anderson doing the heavy work, Washington State senior Joe Abbott ran a season best time of 1:48.65, but will not be good enough to get into the NCAA championship meet. Anderson finished in 1:53.64.
Complete results from the UW Final Qualifier are available here.
In South Bend, Indiana, Oregon sophomore Michael Berry from Seattle's Rainier Beach HS finished second in the 400, running 46.16, a time that should be good enough to get him into the NCAA championships at the Alex Wilson Invitational, hosted by Notre Dame.
Washington's Maurice McNeal finished sixth in Berry's race and seventh overall, running 46.73.
In the men's 60, the Huskies' James Alaka finished second in his heat in 6.95, but did not advance to the finals.
800 meter runner Brad Whitley ran 1:52.77 in his head and finished 33rd overall.
In Friday night's long jump, Tacoma native Andrea Geubelle of the University of Kansas took the victory, leaping 20-10.75 (6.37m), just off the NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 21-2 (6.45m). Geubelle is one of the collegiate leaders in the triple jump, and should get into the NCAA long jump contest.
Complete results from the Alex Wilson Invitational are available here.
NOTE: The University of Washington and the University of Notre Dame contributed to this report.
Comments