University Place native Andrea Geubelle wins NCAA triple jump title...
Geubelle, who claimed an eighth place finish in the long jump on Friday night, opened with a foul, as eventual runner-up Michelle Jenije of Florida State took the early lead with a first round jump of 44-5 1/4 (13.54m), which turned out to be her best of the day.
After a second round jump of 42-8 1/4 (13.01m) put the Curtis High School grad in fourth, she put everything together in round 3, jumping a personal best of 44-10 1/4 (13.67m) to take the lead, which bettered her previous best of 44-7 (13.59m) which she set at the Big 12 championships on February 24th.
Bellingham native Becca Friday from the University of Oregon finished fourth in the mile run, clocking 4:40.24, to help the Ducks win their third straight NCAA indoor title.
"I saw a lot of girls in front of me and I decided I needed to get up there," said Friday. "In the back of my mind I was hoping for top three, but I'm definitely happy with fourth."
Rainier Beach HS grad Michael Berry (above, photo by Randy Miyazaki, trackandfieldphoto.com) won the first section of the two-section final in the men's 400 meters, running off the pace in the first lap, and charging for the win in a season best 45.93. However, his time didn't hold up, and he finished third overall.
Eastern Washington's Keisa Monterola became the school's first All-American in indoor track, as she finished fifth in the pole vault with a jump of 14-1 1/4 (4.30m).
“Keisa did a great job competing for EWU,” said Eastern pole vault coach Eric Allison. “She gave the school an All-American. She stepped up and competed well against the nation’s best competition. I’m very proud of her.”
Stephan Scott-Ellis of Washington State University, a junior from Tacoma, triple jumped a distance of 52-feet, 1 inch (15.87m) to take seventh place at the national meet and earned his first All-America certificate.
"I felt a little overwhelmed at first but got more comfortable and was able to relax and put out a decent jump," Scott-Ellis said. "I'm just ready to get back to work and prepare for outdoors."
One night after powering UW to a dramatic victory in the distance medley relay, sophomore All-American Katie Flood proved even she still gets tired, as Flood lacked the second and third gears she's shown on the track this indoor season in the 3,000-meter final, placing ninth overall, with fellow sophomore Megan Goethals battling for an 11th-place finish as well.
Flood tried to stay out of traffic in the tightly bunched field early in the race, but was running in lane 2 for most of the second kilometer, a fact pointed out by ESPN commentators Dwight Stones and Larry Rawson on the web cast.
When the real racing began with around 500 meters to go, Flood could not respond, as she finished ninth in 9:19.69, over four seconds in back of winner Emily Infeld of Georgetown, who ran 9:15.44
Goethals finished two spots behind Flood in 9:24.68.
According to Husky coach Greg Metcalf, "She was sick with the flu a week ago and then was dehydrated last night after a monster effort, but she wanted to still give it a shot today and I thought she ran smart and gave a great effort but she just didn't have her legs tonight."
Complete day 2 results from the NCAA indoor championships are available here.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Boise State, University of Kansas, Eastern Washington, University of Oregon, University of Washington, and Washington State University contributed to this report.
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