Andrew Gardner's stretch run in steeplechase comes up short at Pac-12s...
Gardner was up front with defending champion Bailey Roth of Arizona and Steven Fahy of host Stanford with one lap to go, when he moved to take command of the race.
Coming off the final water jump, he had a stride lead over Fahy, but as he came off the turn and onto the straightaway, Fahy began a late charge.
Whether or not he heard Fahy’s footsteps, Gardner appeared to either mistime his approach to the final barrier or hesitated for a moment before approaching the barrier.
That moment was enough for Fahy to charge over the barrier, and beat Gardner to the line, with Fahy finishing first in 8:50.07, and Gardner in second at 8:50.71.
Washington State’s Kyler Little was sixth in 9:04.02, while the Huskies’ Julius Diehr was seventh at 9:06.51.
In the men’s 10000, Spokane native Tanner Anderson earned his second straight runner-up finish, as the University of Oregon sophomore ran 29:39.64 behind Stanford’s Jack Keelan.
The Cougars’ Molly Scharmann was the team’s top placer on the day, as she cleared a personal best 13-8.25 (4.17m).
Behind Scharmann were Washington sophomore Annika Dayton, who was fifth at the same height, and Husky teammate Tori Franzen, who was sixth at 13-2.25 (4.02m).
In qualifying races Saturday, Washington advanced Amy-Eloise Neale and Allie Schadler in the women’s 1500; Colby Gilbert in the men’s 1500; Connor Morello and Devan Kirk in the men’s 800; and Hanna Tarleton in the women’s 400 hurdles.
Washington State advanced Zach Smith in the 200; Chandler Teigen in the 1500; and Christapherson Grant in the 400 hurdles; and Kaili Keefe in the 1500; Alissa Brooks-Johnson in the 100 hurdles; and Brooks-Johnson, and Stephanie Cho in the 400 hurdles.
After 6 scored events in the men’s competition, Stanford leads Oregon by five, 48-43. Washington is eighth with 16, and Washington State ninth with 7 points.
In the women’s team competition, Stanford holds a 71-44 lead over USC. Washington is sixth with 23 points, and Washington State is 12th with 8 points.
The results from the Pac-12 championships are available here.
In Monmouth, Oregon, Seattle Pacific left no doubt who was winning the women’s team title at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet Saturday, as they rode on the backs of Renick Meyer and Grace Bley to snatch their ninth conference crown.
Meyer provided 18 more points for the Falcons on Saturday as she won the 100 meters in 12.16 seconds and finished second in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.13 seconds. The performances, combined with her heptathlon win last week and her win in the long jump on Friday, gave Meyer a share of the Field Athlete of the Meet Award. Bley, meanwhile, won the 200 meters with a surge over the final 15 meters to outlast Marie Ries of Alaska Anchorage with a time of 24.70 seconds.
Meyer and Bley opened the day with teammates Julia Stepper and Becca Houk in winning the 4x100-meter relay. Their meet-record time of 46.60 seconds surpassed the previous record of 46.60 seconds set by Alaska Anchorage in 2014.
The three titles helped Seattle Pacific win the team title with a score of 154.5 points. Central Washington and Concordia tied for second place at 121 points. Western Washington was fourth at 105 points, while Saint Martin’s was ninth at 23.5 points.
In the men’s team competition, Concordia used the strength of its throwers to win its first conference crown.
Western Washington finished second with 127 points. Central Washington finished third with 123 points, while Saint Martin’s and Seattle Pacific trailed in ninth and tenth with 20 and 13 points, respectively.
Central Washington’s Kodiak Landis bounced back from a disappointing finish in the decathlon, and tied a meet record in the 400 meters. His winning time of 47.55 seconds equaled the mark set by Ethan Hewitt of Alaska Anchorage in 2012. Zach Whittaker added a title in the triple jump with a mark of 48 feet, 0.5 inches.
Western Washington’s Cordell Cummings added a 110-meter hurdles title to his 400-meter hurdles trophy from 2017, outlasting Central Washington’s Braydon Maier for the title with a time of 14.97 seconds.
Maier was recognized as the Field Athlete of the Meet. Maier won the decathlon last week and then won the pole vault on Friday. He returned on Saturday to take second in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.08 seconds.
Complete results of the GNAC championships are available here.
At the Western Athletic Conference championship meet in Lawrence, Kansas, Olivia Stein’s second place finish in the women’s 5000 was the lone bright spot Saturday.
Stein, the 10000 champion Thursday, ran 17:36.82 to finish over five seconds behind winner Hannah Branch of Utah Valley’s 17:31.64.
In the mens’ team competition, the Redhawks finished sixth with 22 points, while the SeattleU women also finished sixth with 38 points.
Complete results of the WAC championship meet are available here.
In Shanghai, China, Drew Windle of the Seattle-based Brooks Beasts finished tenth in the mens’ 800 Saturday, as the IAAF Diamond League made its second stop of the season-long international tour in the Chinese city.
Windle ran 1:47.77, as Kenya’s Wycliffe Kinyamal won in a meet record 1:43.91.
The IAAF Diamond League makes its next international stop in Eugene in two weeks, as Hayward Field hosts the Nike Prefontaine Classic.
Complete results of the IAAF Diamond League Shanghai stop are available here.
NOTE: The sports information office of the University of Washington, Washington State University, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, the Pac-12, the Western Athletic Conference and the IAAF contributed to this report.
Comments