WSU's Drew Jordan pulls surprise in 5000; Scott-Ellis, Goethals & UW DMR win at MPSFs...
SEATTLE--Washington picked up two victories from its vaunted distance crew, while the Cougars' Stephan Scott-Ellis repeated as champion in the long jump, along with a surprise win in the men's 5000 by junior Drew Jordan (left/photo by Paul Merca) as day one of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships concluded at the Dempsey Indoor on the campus of the University of Washington.
Jordan won the 5k with a personal-best time of 13 minutes 54.35 seconds which ranks in the top 25 nationally based on times coming into this weekend of conference championships.
When the field of 21 men reached the halfway point of the race, Jordan moved forward with the front pack of seven which included a trio of Stanford distance specialists. Jordan made his move on the final lap, sprinting to the front of the pack and not looking back, winning by a solid margin. Stanford's Erik Olson finished second in a time of 13:55.66.
"This was a huge race and a great job by Drew," Cougar Head Coach Rick Sloan said. "He ran so smart and so strong. Coach Tim Riley has done a great job of bringing that distance corps along and ready to compete at this level."
Continuing his long-time battle with Arizona State's Chris Benard, Scott-Ellis, the senior from Tacoma, took the lead in the long jump with his first round mark of 25-0 3/4 (7.64m), then extended it in round three to the eventual winning leap of 25-4 3/4 (7.74m), just short of his all time legal best of 25-6 1/2 (7.78m).
Benard once again finished second, as the Sun Devil jumped 25-0 1/2 (7.63m).
Washington junior Megan Goethals, the NCAA runner up outdoors last year at 5000 meters, took the MPSF indoor crown in a season best of 15:58.62.
Goethals and Stanford All-American Kathy Kroeger broke away, with Kroeger doing most of the work up front, with Arizona's Jennifer Bergman joining the duo with four laps to go.
With two laps to go, Goethals moved into the lead for the first time. Kroeger tried to regain the lead but Goethals dug in and pulled away over the final lap to win by about ten meters, 15:58.62 to 16:00.29.
Bergman hung on for third in 16:00.66, while the Huskies' Lindsay Flanagan was fifth in 16:34.80.
Running in her first race of the season, the Huskies' Katie Flood, who was the anchor for last year's national championship team, led off, running a solid leg and kept the Dawgs in fourth through the 1200 segment.
Kayla Stueckle took the baton for the 400 meter leg, but was still in fourth when she handed off to Baylee Mires for the 800 leg.
Mires took UW from fourth to first with an impressive carry, and gave senior Christine Babcock a five meter lead for the final 1,600-meters. Babcock only extended the lead, and wound up winning by a large margin. The Huskies' time of 11:08.09 was 14-seconds faster than runner-up Stanford. It's the No. 3 time in school history and puts the Huskies in the mix for an NCAA bid.
Senior All-American Jeremy Taiwo was hoping to build on his incredible heptathlon from two weeks back, and he got off to an impressive start in the 60-meter dash with a personal-best of 6.97 seconds. He then long jumped 24-3.5 (7.40m) on his first attempt, just an inch off his PR. But on his third long jump, he tweaked his hamstring and was forced to withdraw from the competition.
Earlier in the day, Taiwo lost his world record in the heptathlon high jump, as Indiana's Derek Drouin, who was a bronze medalist in the London Olympics in the high jump for Canada, soared 7-6 1/2 (2.30m).
The meet continues Saturday at the Dempsey. Results from day one are available here.
BIG SKY RECAP
After day one of the Big Sky Indoor in Bozeman, Montana, both Eastern Washington squad sit in seventh with the women earning 18.5 points, and the men's squad at 12.
In the women’s weight throw, Emma Murillo finished third with a personal-best toss of 58-8 1/2 (17.89m), earning all-conference honors. Vania Tauvela was fourth with a throw of 56-8 3/4 (17.29m). Murillo’s mark tied her with Tauvela for third all-time in school history.
Senior Marlyn Anderson capped off his final indoor season with an all-conference performance, finishing third with a personal best of 56-11 1/4 (17.35m).
In an event that the Eagles were expected to score big, Eastern walked away with three points in the women's pole vault, as Anandae Clark and Robin Taylor were in a four-way tie for sixth at 11-9 3/4 (3.60m).
Defending champ Keisa Monterola once again failed to clear a height, which puts her chances for returning to the NCAA championships in danger, unless she can put herself in the top 16 at one of the last chance meets next weekend.
MC CLEMENT NABS THIRD IN WAC 5000
In Albuquerque, Matthew McClement finished third in the men's 5000, as the SeattleU senior crossed the line in a time of 15:17.11 at the Western Athletic Conference championships.
The Redhawks' team of Collin Overbay, Austin Thummel-Gravitt, Nathan McLaughlin and Ryan Dennison finished fifth in the men's distance medley relay in 10:27.35, while their women's squad, consisting of Sophie Curatilo, Candice de Sauvage, Madison Davis, and Hannah Mittelstaedt also took fifth in 12:30.41.
NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Washington, Washington State University, Eastern Washington University, and Seattle University contributed to this report.
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