WEEKEND ROUNDUP: RB grad Berry helps Ducks get Penn Relays Wheel; Cougar, Hartman & Vernacchia Invite highlights...

In Philadelphia at the Penn Relays, Rainier Beach grad Michael Berry (left/photo by Paul Merca) was part of Oregon's winning distance medley relay, running a 44.72 400 split as the Ducks won convincingly in 9:25.40.

He also ran the anchor leg on the Ducks' 4 x 400 relay that finished third in 3:06.51, with Tacoma's Marcus Chambers leading off for the squad.

Cleveland HS graduate Cheryl Taplin, one of Washington's most decorated prep sprinters, was inducted into the Penn Relays Wall of Fame during the meet for her contributions while attending LSU in the early 1990s.


In Pullman, Washington State alum Marissa Tschida broke her own meet record set as an undergrad, winning the javelin with a mark of 1783 (54.34m) to highlight competition at the 14th annual Cougar Invitational at Mooberry Track.

The mark was one of five meet records set in the meet, hosted by Washington State University, as many of the Cougars' top athletes were given the weekend off in preparation for next week's dual meet against the Huskies.

Travis Pickett won the men’s hammer with a PR heave of 189-feet, 5 inches (57.74m). Freshman Dino Dodig, tuning up for the Pac-12 Decathlon Championship to be held at Mooberry Track May 10-11, won the men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 14.91 seconds.

A trio of Cougar women won events included Katie Dean with a PR leap in the long jump of 18-10 3/4 (5.76m). In the vertical jumps, Holly Parent won the high jump with a height of 5-7 1/4 (1.71m), and Kelsey Bueno won the pole vault after clearing the bar at 12-0 3/4 (3.68m).

Courtesy of WSUCougars.com, here's coach Rick Sloan's comments on Saturday's competition:



In Spokane, Eastern Washington athletes won 15 events at the Duane Hartman Invitational Friday and Saturday hosted by Spokane Community College.

Katie Mahoney won the 5000 in 16:45.92, the third best mark in school history.  Jordan Arakawa continued his strong season, winning the hammer with a best of 210-1 (64.03m).

Eagle alum and former NCAA All-American Keisa Monterola tied with current Eagle Courtney Bray in the pole vault, with each clearing 13-1.5 (4.00m) on their second attempt.

Former NCAA D2 champ Monika Gruszecki won the javelin with a toss of 149-7 (45.59m).


In Bellingham, the throwing events highlighted the Ralph Vernacchia Open meet at Civic Stadium, hosted by Western Washington.

Javelin throwers Bethany Drake and Katie Reichert, the top two throwers in NCAA D2 this season, again threw past the auto qualifying standard, as Drake took the win at 161-2 (49.13m) over Reichert's 158-9 (48.40m).

Frank Catelli of the Vikings was a double winner in the shot and discus, throwing a meet record 55-4 1/2 (16.88m), and the discus in 162-11 (49.67m).

Husky redshirt Gina Flint won both the shot and discus, as she threw 49-5 (15.06m) and 155-0 (47.24m).

Seattle Pacific's 4 x 100 relay team of Tasia Baldwin, Kyra Brannan, Kishia Mitchell and BryAnne Wochick won in a meet record 47.20.


NOTE:  The sports information offices of Washington State, Eastern Washington, Spokane CC, Western Washington, and Seattle Pacific, along with the Penn Relays contributed to this report.

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