Cougars' Emmanuel Wells wins MPSF 60 title and puts himself in the mix for NCAA crown...

SEATTLE--Washington State's Emmanuel Wells (above/photo by Howard Lao) is fast, but the senior from Seattle's Rainier Beach HS hadn't shown the nation how fast he is.

He'd shown that he could be a force on the national scene when he ran a school record 6.53 to win the 60 meter dash at the Don Kirby Elite meet at nearly 5000 feet above sea level in Albuquerque on February 9th.

That time was converted down to 6.64 on the NCAA Division I descending order list.

After Saturday's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships at Dempsey Indoor, the converted mark is history.

In the first of two timed-final heats in the 60, Wells got a blazing start on the purple Mondo track surface to run 6.55, to win the heat by .14 seconds over USC's Eric Allen, then had to wait for the second section before he could claim victory.

The second section saw UCLA's Kenroy Higgins run 6.59, with USC's Brendon Stewart second at 6.64. In the overall standings, Higgins placed second and Stewart third.

The mark (pending the results of other conference championships around the country) puts Wells at number 2 in NCAA D1 behind Raymond Ekevwo of Florida.

The Cougars' Sam Brixey is on the bubble for a spot in the NCAA championships in Albuquerque in two weeks after winning the 60 hurdles in 7.75.

Charisma Taylor of Washington State, who entered the weekend ranked number 6 on the NCAA descending order list in the triple jump, won the conference crown in that event, bounding 43-7.25 (13.29m).

The Huskies got two wins Saturday, both in the 3000 meter runs, as Tanner Anderson won the men's title in 7:58.34, and Hayley Herberg ran 9:19.28 to take the women's crown.

The men's team title went to BYU, who scored 80 points to nip Arizona, who had 76 points. Washington was third with 62 points, while Washington State finished sixth with 51.5 points.

Oregon won the women's team tile with 104.5, followed by USC at 73, and Washington was third with 70 points.

Washington State finished in a three-way tie for fifth with 54 points.

Complete results of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships are available here.

NOTE; The sports information offices of the University of Washington, Washington State University, and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contributed to this report.