UW men get second, while women take third at Pepsi Team Invitational...
EUGENE—The Washington men finished second, while the Husky women’s squad finished third in the three-team Pepsi Team Invitational hosted by the University of Oregon at Historic Hayward Field on a windy day.
While the Ducks easily swept both the Huskies and the University of Kentucky Wildcats in both the men’s and women’s team competitions (162 to 115 for UW and 110 for Kentucky in the mens; 138-124 Oregon over Kentucky in the women’s with the Huskies scoring 119 in the women’s team race), the Huskies did manage to get wins from their distance group, throws, sprints, and both vaults.
In the ‘it ain’t over ‘till it’s over’ category, Meron Simon (left/photo by Paul Merca), who hadn’t run a steeplechase in three years, stole a certain victory from Oregon’s Tanguy Pepiot, who was slowing down in front of the west grandstand before the finish line, not knowing that Simon was making a mad dash for the finish until it was too late.
"I thought he had me," Simon said to the Oregonian’s Ken Goe. "I thought he was so far ahead. Then I heard the crowd get crazy. And then he started throwing his hands up, and I thought: 'I don't think he knows I'm coming.' I think it was about five meters to go was kind I (caught) him, and he still had no idea."
Simon took the win in 8:57.86, with a stunned Pepiot second in 8:57.96.
Washington’s 4 x 100m relay team of Lucas Strong, Quadelle Satterwhite, Jacopo Spano, and Chris Williams ran a season best of 40.33 to take the victory.
In the pole vaults, Kristina Owsinski and Liz Quick, along with JJ Juilifs and Jax Thoirs went 1-2 to get the Dawgs the maximum points possible in both events (only two from each team score), despite less than ideal vaulting conditions.
Owsinski won with a best of 12-11 3/4 (3.96m), while Eugene high school product Juilifs took the victory with a vault of 17-0 3/4 (5.20m).
Washington redshirt freshman Gina Flint got the win in the shot put, throwing 50-4 (15.34m).
Tacoma native Marcus Chambers of the host Ducks won the 200 in a wind-aided 20.71, took the 400 in a personal best 47.09, and anchored the 4 x 400 relay team to the victory in 3:12.30.
"We have the best fans in the country, so we just want to go out there, compete, try to win every single race," Chambers said. "We want to dominate everybody we go against and show them that we're working hard, and we're trying to bring back another outdoor title."
NOTE: The University of Washington and the University of Oregon sports information offices contributed to this report.
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