Jax Thoirs clears personal best to highlight UW Purple/Gold intrasquad meet...

SEATTLE--At the end of the day, no one will remember that the Gold squad took the victory over Team Purple by a count of 244-226 at the fifth annual Purple/Gold Intrasquad meet to celebrate the end of the fall training block for members of the University of Washington track and field team.

But those who were in attendance at the Dempsey Indoor Thursday will remember the jump that Jax Thoirs (left/photo by Paul Merca) cleared, as the native of Glasgow, Scotland cleared a personal best of 18-1 3/4 (5.53m) to highlight the meet, and serve notice to the collegiate vault field that he will be one to watch this season.

Thoirs opened the competition with a first attempt clearance of 15-11 3/4 (4.87m) followed by a third attempt make at 16-7 1/4 (5.06m).

After a clearance of 17-7 (5.36m) on his first attempt, he had officials raise the bar to 18-1-3/4 (5.53m), three centimeters above his previous personal best of 18-0 1/2 (5.50m) set this summer in Finland.

Thoirs ran through the pit on his first attempt before clearing the bar on his second attempt.

UPDATE:  Thanks to our friends at Scottish Athletics, we've now been told that his jump is a Scottish national record, pending the usual verification process.

His reward?  A leg on the all x 307m (distance around the Dempsey oval) relay for the Gold squad, the last event of the evening, as sprinters, jumpers, and throwers get together to run one lap to determine the final results of the meet.  

Thoirs and women's pole vault winner Logan Miller clinched the meet for the Gold squad, as the Purple team won the all x 307 relay.

The other significant mark of the meet came from hurdler Chris Williams, as the Pac-12 freshman of the year from last season came close to matching his personal best in the 60 hurdles of 7.92, as the sophomore from Philadelphia ran 7.94.