Huskies' Izaic Yorks redeems himself with second career sub-4 mile at UW Open...

SEATTLE—It was redemption for Washington’s Izaic Yorks (left/photo by Paul Merca), as he rebounded from a fall in the fast section of Saturday’s Husky Classic and ran a personal best 3:58.69 to win the invitational mile at Sunday’s UW Open meet at the Dempsey Indoor.

After getting tripped Saturday, meet management assembled a field of runners to shoot for a sub-4 minute mile, comprised of several runners in the two fast sections of yesterday’s Husky Classic, including Marquette alum Tommy Schmitz, who didn’t finish, and Colorado alum Blake Theroux, who just missed breaking 4 minutes in the heat before.

Adams State’s Oliver Aitchison, who ran a NCAA Division II leader in the mile at 4:01.11 Saturday, did the early work, taking the field through 800 meters just over 1:58, before ceding the lead to Yorks.  Yorks took command, running just under 2:59 at the 3/4 mark, before powering his way to the finish, cheered on by a large contingent of Husky teammates assembled along the perimeter of the track.

Aitchison’s work paid dividends for teammate Matt Daniels, as Daniels’ second place time of 3:59.89 made him the first runner in NCAA Division II to break 4 minutes this season.

Yorks’ and Daniels’ marks became the 126th and 127th time that runners broke 4 minutes in the mile at the Dempsey since the facility opened in 2002.

Yorks passed Eric Garner for third on the all-time UW top-10 list, and gave him his second career sub-4 minute mile.

In other highlights:

—Joe Morris ran 6.72 to win the men’s 60 dash; 

—Reigning US junior 1500m champ Alexa Efraimson of Camas opened up her season with a 2:43.39 clocking in the 1000, after being paced by training partner and former Seattle Pacific standout McKayla Fricker;

—US Olympian Kibwe Johnson threw 70-6.25 (21.49m) to win the men’s weight throw.



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