Cougs get six top-3 finishes at Arkansas Qualifier; Zags finish fourth at Oregon XC Invitational...

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas--The Washington State men's and women's track teams earned six top three finishes at the Arkansas Qualifier Friday afternoon at the Randal Tyson Track Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas.

Charisma Taylor (photo courtesy University of Arkansas) finished with a pair of second place finishes in the 60 hurdles and the triple jump.

The 2020 indoor All-American tied her personal best of 8.19 in winning her semifinal heat, then finished second in the finals with a time of 8.24.

The Bahamian national then went to the triple jump, where she finished second in her season opener in this event, bounding 43-7.75/13.30m.

All-American Sam Brixey, who entered the weekend ranked number 5 on the NCAA Division I performance list in the 60 hurdles, finished second in his specialty, running 7.80, the identical time that he ran in winning the UW Indoor Preview last week.

The Cougars got wins in the men's mile from Zach Stallings in a personal best 4:02.04, and from 2019 NCAA outdoor championship qualifier Mitch Jacobson in the high jump as he cleared 6-10.75/2.10m.

Stallings found himself running solo after 800 meters, and could have been in position to break 4 minutes if he had competition after the halfway mark.

Colton Johnsen, who won the 3000 at last week's UW Indoor Preview, finished third in the 3000, running 8:07.68.

Complete results of the Arkansas Qualifier are available here.

GONZAGA WOMEN FINISH FOURTH AT OREGON XC INVITATIONAL...

In Eugene, the Gonzaga women's cross country team opened the delayed 2020-21 cross country season with a fourth place finish Friday at the Oregon XC Invitational at Lane Community College.

Junior transfer Kristen Garcia led the way, running the 5000 meter course in 17:32 to finish 15th.

Following Garcia were Liz Hogan in 21st with a time of 17:47. Claire Manley (18:02) and Ally Legard (18:04) were 27th and 29th. Claire Gillett (18:08) rounded out the scorers for the Bulldogs in 31st.

Former Oregon standout Carmela Cardama Baez took the victory in 16:41, while former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell, who transferred to Oregon State, was the first collegian in second at 16:52.

Unranked Portland took the team title with 32 points, placing its top five runners in the Top-10. Anna Pataki led the Pilots with a fourth-place finish at 17:01. Unranked San Francisco was second as a team with 47, followed by number 21 Oregon State at 48, Gonzaga with 108 and number 24 Oregon at 136.

In the men's 8k race, Oregon's Jackson Mestler was the winner in 24:02, while number 7 Portland took the team title with 20 points, placing their five scorers in the top six. Number 10 Oregon was second at 45, and San Francisco third with 71 points.

Gonzaga's next meet is the West Coast Conference championship in Las Vegas on February 24th.

Complete results of the Oregon XC Invitational are available here.

NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Arkansas, Oregon, Gonzaga, and Washington State 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.