WSU's Liz Harper finishes third in Pac-12 heptathlon, while teammate Dino Dodig 4th in decathlon...
SEATTLE—Washington State junior Liz Harper (above/photo by Paul Merca) finished third in the Pac-12 heptathlon championship, while teammate Dino Dodig placed fourth in the decathlon competition Sunday at Husky Track on the campus of the University of Washington.
In contrast to Saturday’s competition, held under temperatures in the mid-80s, the meet was run under cool and cloudy conditions with temperatures in the low 60s.
Harper, who was second at the break behind eventual winner Amaile Iuel of USC, did not get off to a good start in the long jump, only jumping 18-1.75 (5.53m), well under her personal best of 19-8.75 (6.01m).
Though not one of the better javelin throwers in the field, she didn’t help her cause, only throwing 94-6 (28.80m). Harper managed to set a personal best of 2:14.03 in the final event, the 800 meters.
Iuel, the Norwegian who won the 2014 heptathlon title, won her second career conference crown with a final score of 6011 points, the second best collegiate score this season, and 89 points short of the Olympic qualifying standard of 6200 points. Arizona’s Alyssa Thompson took second with 5580 points.
Washington’s CJ Smith rallied from ninth place at the break to finish seventh with a final score of 4961 points, while WSU frosh Lindsey Schauble finished tenth with 4626 points.
Dodig, who started the day in fourth with a first day PR score of 3909 points, ran the 110 hurdles in 15.31, then threw the discus 125-8 (38.31m). He moved to third with a vault of 15-1 (4.60m) and maintained his grip on the final podium spot after throwing the javelin 132-0 (40.33m) to hold a score of 6586 heading into the final event.
Despite running a near-personal best of 4:28.68 in the 1500, it still wasn’t enough to overcome the charge of Oregon’s Joe Delgado, who was fifth after the ninth event with 6512 points to ran 4:17.49 to overtake Dodig for third by a final count of 7341 to 7339.
Arizona’s Pau Tonnesen won his second straight Pac-12 decathlon title with a final score of 7942 points, followed by Oregon’s Mitch Modin with 7450.
Washington’s Josh Gordon, who started the day in third, finished sixth with a final score of 7192 points, a personal best and the #7 score in UW history. Husky teammate Cole Jensen finished eighth with a personal best score of 6945 points.
The Pac-12 track and field championships resume Saturday at Husky Track with the main portion of the meet.
NOTE: The University of Washington, Washington State University, and the Pac-12 Conference contributed to this report.
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