Husky relay squads run strong, while Cougar men finish fifth at MPSF championships...

SEATTLE—Strong performances from Washington’s 4 x 400 relay teams, and an overall emphasis on middle of the pack scoring by the Washington State mens’ squad were the order of the day as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor track & field championships concluded at the Dempsey Indoor Saturday.

The Washington men’s 4 x 400 team of Kemuel Samuel, Jacopo Spanó, Jason Palmer, and Ryan Croson (#727/photo by Paul Merca) won the final running event of the meet, as they ran 3:09.57 to beat Arizona (3:09.89), Stanford (3:09.95), and a light USC (3:11.70) squad that ran only one member of the team that ran 3:01.98 at Clemson two weeks ago.

The Husky women’s squad of Hanna Tarleton, Carly Lester, Carolyn Birkenfeld, and Imani Apostol finished a strong third in the 4 x 400 relay, as they ran 3:38.57 behind Stanford (3:35.34) and USC (3:35.86).

The Cougar men’s team earned their highest finish in the tenure of head coach Wayne Phipps, taking fifth place with 54 points.

Brock Eager’s win in Friday’s weight throw got the Cougars kick-started, as on Saturday, WSU relied on Nick Johnson (4th, 8.00) and Christapherson Grant (6th, 8.09) to get points in the 60 hurdles, along with a fourth place finish from Ja’Maun Charles (6.82) in the 60 dash.

Also scoring for the Cougs were Justin Janke (1:52.39, 5th) in the 800; Martin Moldau (4837, 4th) in the heptathlon; Peyton Fredrickson (6-8.75/2.05m, 7th) in the high jump; and Robby Flores (57-1.75/14.37m, 8th) in the triple jump, to give WSU 54 points, as USC won the conference crown with 107.

Host Washington was seventh with 46.5 points.

In the women’s team competition, the Huskies were ninth with 30 points, with the Cougars finishing tenth with 28 points.

USC also won the MPSF team title with 122 points.

The performance of the day came from Arizona State’s Maggie Ewen, who added the shot put title to the weight throw victory Friday, as the 2018 world leader (63-0/19.20m) and 2017 Bowerman Award finalist threw a meet and facility record 62-3.25 (18.98m), a mark that would be the third furthest in the world this season.

Complete results of the MPSF championships are available here.

NOTE:  The University of Washington and Washington State University’s sports information offices contributed to this report.  TFRRS and the IAAF contributed statistical information.