WSU sophomore & Eastern Washington transfer Kaili Keefe misses spot in NCAA 1500m finals by 4/100ths of a second...
Keefe, who transferred to WSU from Eastern Washington at the start of the 2018 winter semester, ran a lifetime best of 4:15.39, to finish sixth in the second of two semi-final heats.
The Yakima native fought her way through the middle of the pack and looked to have the fifth spot with 30 meters left in the race but was nipped at the finish line. Since the first heat was the faster of the two, the final two spots went to runners in that race who had faster times.
WSU head coach Wayne Phipps said afterwards, “Kaili ran an awesome race and got passed within inches of the finish with no time to respond. She missed the final by .04 seconds but ran another great PR and ran her last 800m in an outstanding 2:12.”
In a text to paulmerca.blogspot.com, Chris Shane, who coached Keefe at Eastern Washington before he left the school in December, said, "Kaili's an absolute fighter and a talent. I saw it the first time I ever saw her race in high school. I'm so happy that she's thriving at WSU."
In the women’s 3000 steeplechase, Washington junior Emily Hamlin ran the second fastest time of her career, as she clocked 10:14.71, as she finished ninth in her heat.
The women’s 400 hurdles saw WSU junior Stephanie Cho run a time of 59.06 seconds, good for seventh in her heat.
Here’s the time schedule of athletes competing in the final event contested at Historic Hayward Field on the final two days of the meet:
Friday
W Heptathlon (12:30p first event)—Alissa Brooks-Johnson
M Steeple finals (5:54pm)—Andrew Gardner
M 5000 finals (7:25 pm)—Colby Gilbert
M 4 x 400 relay finals (7:51 pm)—Isaiah Brandt-Sims
Saturday
W Heptathlon (12:30p first event)—Alissa Brooks-Johnson
The ESPN family of networks offers live coverage of the NCAA championships both over-the-air and online each day.
Results from day 2 of the NCAA championships are available here.
NOTE: The NCAA, University of Oregon, Washington State University, and the University of Washington contributed to this report.
Comments