University Place resident Andrea Geubelle halfway home to NCAA jumps double...

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas--University Place resident Andrea Geubelle (above/photo courtesy University of Kansas) has one national title in her back pocket as the Curtis High School graduate won the long jump at the NCAA Division I championships at the Randal Tyson Indoor Track Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas.

The Kansas Jayhawk senior took the national crown with a closer than expected mark of 21-6 (6.55m), the same distance jumped by runner-up Christabel Nettey of Arizona State.

In round 3, Geubelle took the lead from Nettey with her eventual winner after being behind in the first two rounds.

In the finals, Nettey matched Geubelle's 21-6 (6.55m) mark, but Geubelle answered with a jump of 21-2 3/4 (6.47m) to put her back in the lead, as Nettey's second best mark was 21-1 1/2 (6.44m) in round 1.

Geubelle came close to matching her best in round 5, stretching the tape to 21-5 1/4 (6.53m), while Nettey answered with a jump of 21-0 (6.40m).

Neither jumper came close to their best in the final round.

Geubelle's teammate Francine Simpson finished third with a jump of 21-0 1/2 (6.41m) to give Kansas 16 points towards their first day team score of 20, giving the Jayhawks the lead after six events.

Saturday, Geubelle returns to defend her national title in the triple jump.

In other finals, Geubelle's Curtis HS teammate Stephan Scott-Ellis of Washington State was 11th in the men's long jump with a best of 24-7 3/4 (7.51m).

According to WSU jumps coach Matt McGee, "There wasn't any part that went terribly wrong but overall Stephan just wasn't at his best tonight. He looked good on the runway but wasn't maintaining his rhythm and carrying his momentum great through the last three steps and as a result wasn't able to extend through the take-off as well as he can."

Marquis Dendy of Florida won the competition with a best of 27-2 (8.28m).

In the men's distance medley relay, Bellevue HS grad Michael Williams ran the first leg on Princeton's winning distance medley relay, running a 1200 leg of 2:56.56 to keep the Tigers in striking distance behind early leader Penn State.

Princeton's winning time was 9:33.01.

In the women's mile, Bellingham's Becca Friday from Oregon advanced to the finals, finishing third in her semi in a time of 4:37.80.  Washington senior Christine Babcock was seventh in her semi, running 4:41.55, three places below what was needed to advance to Saturday's final.

In the men's 400, Rainier Beach HS grad Michael Berry from Oregon ran the second fastest time of the prelims, running an Oregon school record time of 45.64 to finish second to Texas A&M's Deon Lendore, who ran 45.36 in the same heat.

Friday came back to run a 2:06.65 800 leg on the Ducks' distance medley relay team that finished eighth in 11:02.15.

Besides Geubelle (triple jump), Berry (400), and Friday (mile), the University of Washington's Jeremy Taiwo goes in the men's high jump, and Wenatchee native Hannah Kiser of Idaho runs the 3000.

Complete day 1 results from the NCAA Division I championships are available here.

The meet will be streamed live on arkansasrazorbacks.com, then picked up on ESPN3.com.

WESTERN'S WARMAN GETS EIGHTH IN D2 LONG JUMP; FRICKER QUALIFIES FOR 800M FINALS...

In  Birmingham, Alabama, Western Washington University's Emily Warman  broke her own school record set five years ago and placed eighth in the women's long jump Friday at the 2013 NCAA Division II National Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

Warman leaped 19-2 3/4, 4-3/4 inches better than the WWU standard she established in 2009.

It was the third national indoor appearance for Warman and her second in the long jump. She holds indoor and outdoor school bests for both the long and triple jumps.

WWU pole vaulters Karis Anderson and Cheyenna Pinley finished 12th and 13th, respectively. Both cleared 12-1 1/2.

Seattle Pacific's McKayla Fricker posted a personal-best time on Friday afternoon and earned a spot in Saturday's  800-meter finals. running 2:10.82, breaking her previous PR of 2:11.11 set last month at the Husky Classic.

The junior from Canby, Oregon, who is the daughter of former Oregon State middle distance runner Mark Fricker, came from the back of her six-runner heat to finish second, surging past three runners in the final 400 meters.

Freshman teammate Lynelle Decker also posted a PR on Friday, although it wasn’t enough to get into the nine-runner finals. Decker came across the line in 2:13.06. That beat her previous best time of 2:13.64, which she set on Feb. 23 in the SPU Last Chance National Qualifer to put herself in position for a spot at nationals.

Saturday, SPU sends out senior Katy Gross (Everett, Wash. / Cascade HS) in the pentathlon beginning at 7 a.m. PST. Gross, who finished 13th last year, comes in at the 10th seed off a career-best 3,505 points that netted her a third straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference title.

The Falcons will also send out the foursome of junior Kishia Mitchell (Puyallup, Wash. / Rogers HS), senior Emily Quatier (Portland, Ore.), sophomore Jasmine Johnson (Federal Way, Wash. / Federal Way HS) and Fricker in the 4 x 400 meter relay.

Complete day 1 results from the NCAA Division II championships are available here.  The meet will be streamed live over NCAA.com.

NOTE:  The sports information office of the University of Washington, Washington State University, University of Kansas, Seattle Pacific University and Western Washington University contributed to this report.