Australian Carley Thomas signs national letter of intent to attend the University of Washington...

In recent years, Maurica and Andy Powell have recruited well in Australia and New Zealand, bringing in Jessica Hull and Lilli Burdon to Oregon, where both were NCAA scorers while the Powells were on the Duck track and field staff.

While Hull stayed at Oregon and Burdon followed the Powells to the University of Washington, the Huskies have signed another athlete from the Oceania pipeline, with the announcement that Carley Thomas of Australia (above/photo courtesy IAAF/Getty Images) has signed a national letter of intent to attend the UW starting this fall.

The graduate of Castle Hill HS in Sydney, Thomas won the Australian U20 National Championship at 800-meters and went on to compete at the World Junior Championships in Tampere, Finland. Thomas won her semifinal in 2:03.19 and moved on to the final, where she cut two more seconds off her personal-best to run 2:01.13 to get second.

She also was part of the Australian 4 x 400 relay team that finished second in Finland.

"Carley Thomas is a world-class athlete and an incredible young woman, and we couldn't be more excited to welcome her to the University of Washington," says Director of Track & Field Maurica Powell. "She's intelligent, talented, driven, and fiercely competitive. Beyond this,Carley is uniquely level-headed, and she possesses maturity and perspective beyond her years. I am so very thankful and humbled that Carley and her wonderful parents, Christina and Bruce, have chosen to be part of our family here on Montlake."

The international signees from Australia and New Zealand that will join the Dawgs this fall include Melany Smart from Perth, Australia, the national U18 champ at 3000m, and Samuel Tanner from New Zealand, who became the first high schooler in his country to go under 4 minutes in the mile, running 3:58.41.

Thomas' IAAF profile is available here.                                         

Washington’s release is available here.

Meanwhile, more good news out of Montlake with the announcement from the Pac-12 that both Olivia Gruver and Jonah Wilson were named women’s and men’s field event athletes of the week for their performances at the Stanford Invitational.

Gruver, the two-time NCAA champion who transferred to UW this season, cleared 15-6 1/4 on Friday at the Stanford Invitational, bettering the former record by half an inch that was held by 2016 Olympic Silver Medalist Sandi Morris. Gruver's clearance also shattered the Pac-12 record by over five inches, and the UW school record by 13 inches.

Wilson won the Stanford Invitational shot put invite section with a personal best, going to No. 3 in the NCAA this season with a toss of 19.69 meters (64-7.25). That moved Wilson to tops in the Pac-12 this season and No. 3 in Washington school history with the best mark by a Husky since 1998.

The Pac-12 release is available here.

NOTE:  The University of Washington and the Pac-12 Conference contributed to this report.