Washington's DMR sets second school record in two weeks at Notre Dame...

SOUTH BEND, Indiana--The University of Washington's distance medley relay squad of Ryan Soberanis, Maurice McNeal, Brad Whitley, and Joey Bywater (photo of team from left, Soberanis, Bywater, Whitley, and McNeal courtesy University of Washington) moved themselves one step closer to a spot in next week's NCAA indoor championships with a solid fifth place finish in their section at the Alex Wilson Invitational, running their second school record in two weeks, clocking 9:31.68.

This meet has traditionally been a competition where teams on the bubble try to make their cases to get into the national championships by chasing the qualifying standard, which for this year is 9:31.00.

In the first section, Ohio State won with a time of 9:31.71, with Oregon second at 9:31.91, with Seattle native Michael Berry running the 400 leg for the Ducks.

The Fighting Irish, competing on their home track, took the victory in an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 9:29.72, with Wisconsin second, also in an an auto qualifying time of 9:30.86.

Arkansas (9:31.48), and Villanova (9:31.52) finished ahead of the Huskies, as the Dawgs, using the same order as they did at last week's MPSF championships, where they set a school record of 9:35.05, running 9:31.68.

Courtesy of media partner Flotrack, here is video of the race:



With Friday night's results, the Huskies dropped to tenth on the national performance list, with BYU (9:29.00), Indiana (9:29.12), Texas A&M (9:29.71), Notre Dame (9:29.72), Oklahoma (9:30.13), Wisconsin (9:30.86), Stanford (9:31.24), Arkansas (9:31.48), and Villanova (9:31.52) are ahead of the Huskies.

All four UW runners, along with sprinter James Alaka, are expected to compete in individual events Saturday, while the rest of the Husky squad will compete in the UW Final Qualifier in Seattle.

Complete results from Friday night's session at the Alex Wilson Invitational are available here.