Husky distance crew shines in Beantown, while field eventers score big at MPSF...
In a very competitive women's 800, Washington's Carley Thomas (left/photo by Paul Merca) lowered her school record to 2:02.75 in finishing sixth, as Maite Bouchard of Canada won in 2:00.93.
As a side note, Thomas' mark also bettered the UW outdoor school record of 2:02.97 set in 2016 by Baylee Mires.
Competing in the second section of the men's mile, Mick Stanovsek ran the second fastest mile in school history, winning in 3:57.88, with Paul Ryan of Washington State, who only has outdoor eligibility remaining second in 3:59.70.
In that same heat, Oregon's Jack Yearian, a product of Bellarmine Prep HS in Tacoma was fifth in 4:00.85.
In the fast section, Oregon's Charlie Hunter won in 3:55.41, with defending Olympic champion and 2019 UW volunteer coach Matthew Centrowitz third in 3:57.93.
The Huskies' Sam Ritz was eighth in 4:01.44, while teammate Sam Tanner was 11th in 4:11.54.
In the women's invitational 1500, Marta Pen Freitas of the Brooks Beasts was third in 4:06.94, as Heather Maclean won in 4:05.29.
Washington's Katie Rainsberger finished sixth in the heat in 4:12.71.
Washington alum Izaic Yorks of the Brooks Beasts was third in the invitational 1500, running 3:37.81, as Canada's Justyn Knight won in 3:36.13.
One of the biggest surprises of the day came in the women's 3000, as the Huskies' Allie Schadler dropped a big chunk off of her previous personal best of 9:14.39, as she ran 9:00.89 to finish fourth, as Oregon alum Jessica Hull won in 8:56.61.
Husky freshman Melany Smart was seventh in the race in 9:08.57, just off her PR o 9:06.52.
Results of the Boston University Last Chance meet are available here.
Back home in Seattle, the Husky field event crew, led by pentathlete Hannah Rusnak, pole vaulter Olivia Gruver and weight thrower Angel Nkwonta, gave the Washington women 28 points in the first day of competition at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships at the Dempsey Indoor.
Rusnak, the reigning Pac-12 heptathlon champ, won the 60 hurdles, high jump, shot put and long jump en route to a school record score of 4190 points.
She ran 8.43 in the 60 hurdles, high jumped 5-9.25 (1.76m), threw the shot 41-2.5 (12.56m), and long jumped 19-7 (5.97m), then cruised to a time of 2:30.09 in the 800.
In the meet's opening event, Nkwonta finished second in the weight throw to UCLA throws sensation Alyssa Wilson, as Wilson threw 71-11.75 (21.04m), while Nkwonta countered with a best of 68-9.25 (20.96m).
Seattle native Aoife Martin, now attending grad school at Arizona after graduating from Washington State, finished third with a personal best 63-3.5 (19.29m), while Faimale Sale of the Cougars was sixth with a throw of 61-6.25 (18.75m).
Kreete Verlin of Washington State won the women's long jump with a best of 20-2.5 (6.16m), with Jelani Heath of the Huskies third at 19-3.25 (5.87m), and WSU's Lauren Newman fourth at 19-1.5 (5.83m).
After seven events in the women's competition, Oregon leads the Huskies by a 43-41 count, with Washington State fifth at 27 points.
The Washington men sit in third with six of 19 events scored with 24 points. Arizona leads so far with 44 points, and BYU stands second with 25 points.
The Huskies' Chase Smith finished second in the pole vault, clearing 17-7.25 (5.37m), the same height cleared by winner Cole Riddle of Arizona State, who won on fewer misses at the winning height.
Washington got a second place finish in the distance medley relay, as the team of Isaac Green, Cass Elliott, Daniel Maton & Dustin Nading ran 9:45.25, as Arizona won in 9:34.95, anchored by Pan Am 1500 champ Carlos Villareal.
Jack Rowe of the Huskies was fourth in the 5000 in a time of 13:54.72, which puts him in position to qualify for the NCAA championships in two weeks, depending on the results of other meets around the country this weekend.
Brandon Garnica of BYU won in 13:52.93.
Washington State sits in 11th place with 7 points, as Ja'Maun Charles was sixth in the 200 at 21.63, and Jacob Englar was fifth in the pole vault at 17-1.5 (5.22m).
Day 1 results of the MPSF championships are available here.
US OLYMPIC MARATHON TRIALS SATURDAY
One event that we've not had a chance to talk about on this blog due to the amount of work preparing to announce and write about the collegiate and professional indoor track season is the US Olympic Marathon Trials Saturday in Atlanta.
There has been a wealth of discussion on various web sites in the leadup to the Trials, most notably the unusually large field in both the men's and women's races (try 500 in the women's race alone!), and controversy surrounding Nike's Vaporfly Next% and Alphafly Next% marathon racing shoes, and how other manufacturers are trying to counter it.
Nike handed out a pair of Alphafly Next% at athlete packet pickup to any Olympic Trials qualifier who wanted a pair, regardless of sponsorship arrangement without any obligation to wear the shoes in the race.
The Alphafly Next% releases to the public Saturday, making the shoe eligible to be used in the Olympic marathon in August in Sapporo, Japan, in compliance with the World Athletics rule stating at shoes have to be commercially available to the public four months before competition.
With the Olympic Trials given Gold Label status by World Athletics, the top three finishers Saturday, regardless of whether or not they've run the qualifying time of 2:11:30 (men)/2:29:30 (women) will make the US Olympic team.
While there are a number of athletes with Washington affiliations entered in the race, there are three male and female athletes who are seeded in the top 50.
On the men's side, Bellingham native Jake Riley, Washington State hall of fame member Bernard Lagat and Gonzaga grad Willie Milam are in the top 50, while on the women's side, Washington alum Lindsay Flanagan, Western Washington grad Courtney Olson, and Hockinson native Georgia Porter are seeded in the top 50.
Of the six, only Riley and Flanagan have the current Olympic standard, but time will be irrelevant because of the race's Gold Standard status, as long as they finish in the top 3.
You can see the list of athletes entered in the marathon trials here.
NBC Sports will offer live coverage of the US Olympic Marathon Trials beginning at 9 am pacific time.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Boston University, the University of Washington, USA Track & Field and the Atlanta Track Club contributed to this report.
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