UW volunteer coach Alli Cash runs the fastest mile so far by an American at UW Indoor Preview...
After running Friday night as the pacemaker for the distance medley relay teams, Cash disposed of a great field in the women's mile to win in a personal best 4:33.72, ahead of Canada's Mariah Kelly (4:35.32), and former Villanova standout Angel Piccirillo (4:35.50), pulling away in the final 400 meters.
That mark is currently the fastest time by an American indoors this season, pending the results of other meets this weekend.
Just over an hour later, Cash, who is currently a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Washington, almost stole the victory in the 800, running 2:06.18, as former University of San Francisco standout Sadi Henderson hung on for the win in 2:06.14.
Entering the 2021 indoor season, the 4 minute mile barrier had been broken 214 times since the Dempsey first opened in 2002.
Three more athletes added their names to the list, led by 2020 USA road mile champ Sam Prakel, as the Seattle resident and current volunteer assistant coach at the University of Washington won the mile in 3:58.02 to hold off Paul Ryan, who has outdoor eligibility remaining at Washington State, as Ryan ran 3:58.22.
In his official debut as a Husky, freshman Cruz Culpepper broke 4 minutes for the first time, as the Colorado native ran 3:59.53 to become the 11th runner in school history to break 4.
He also became part of an even more elite group of runners, becoming the 13th father/son combination to break 4 minutes, as his father Alan, a US Olympian at 10000 meters, ran 3:55.12 in 1998, after breaking 4 for the first time in 1997 (3:58.15).
Other highlights:
--Washington State's Sam Brixey (7.80) won the men's 60 hurdles over teammate Nick Johnson (8.06) and former Stanford All-American and UW grad transfer Julian Body (8.12). Brixey's time is the seventh fastest in NCAA Division I so far this season;
--The Cougars' Colton Johnsen won the men's 3000 in a personal best 7:56.14, and put himself in the number 8 position on the NCAA list;
--Jasneet Niijar of Washington State, running in the second of two heats, stole the women's 400, winning the race in 56.11 over NCAA 400 hurdles qualifiers Stephanie Cho and Darhian Mills, who went 1-2 in the first heat, with both credited with identical times of 56.48.
Complete results of the UW Indoor Preview are available here.
HANNAH CUNLIFFE MAKES SEASON DEBUT SUNDAY IN ARKANSAS...
Former Federal Way HS standout Hannah Cunliffe makes her 2021 season debut Sunday at the second American Track League meet at the Randal Tyson Track Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
Cunliffe will run the 60 meter dash, after being on the original start list in last week's ATL meet.
Erik Sowinski, who is a member of the Seattle based Brooks Beasts, will compete in the men's 800 at the ATL meet.
ESPN2 will provide live coverage of the ATL meet beginning at 11:00 am, pacific time.
The start list for the meet are available here.
NOTE: The sports information office of the University of Washington, the American Track League, and Bring Back the Mile contributed to this report.
paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support our sponsors by clicking on the links.
Comments