Brian Fay's 3:52.81 1600m anchor leads Dawgs to DMR win & 3rd fastest time in NCAA history...

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas--While perusing through the LetsRun.com site, the question was asked on the message boards on who has the best NCAA distance medley relay team this season.

One poster declared "Don't sleep on Washington" after the Huskies got their fourth runner under 4 minutes in the mile at the Husky Classic last week, and after NCAA and US Olympic Trials 400 hurdles qualifier Cass Elliott ran 1:48.77 in the 800 meters, even though the Huskies had not run a distance medley relay on the men's side all season.

That poster's declaration came true at the Arkansas Qualifier Friday at the Randal Tyson Track Center, as the Huskies won going away in a new school record time of 9:21.10, the third fastest time in NCAA history.

The previous UW school record of 9:27.19 was set by the team of Blake Nelson, Jacopo Spano, Izaic Yorks, and Colby Gilbert in 2016, when they finished second in the NCAA championships.

Luke Houser led things off for the Dawgs, running the 1200 leg in 2:52.90 as he handed off to freshman Anthony Smith, who ran 46.72 on the 400 leg, which left the Huskies in fifth place going into the 800 segment.

On the third leg, Elliott ran the 800 leg in 1:48.68, but did not make up any ground on Alabama, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Arkansas.

Brian Fay (Paul Merca photo) took over on the anchor leg, running 3:52.81...that's right--3:52.81 on the 1600 leg to carry the Dawgs to victory in 9:21.10, over one second ahead of Alabama's 9:22.43, with Oklahoma State third in 9:22.70, followed by Iowa State in fourth at 9:24.07, and host Arkansas fifth in 9:24.56.

Those times are the fastest five marks so far this season, and will most likely guarantee the Huskies one of the twelve spots in the DMR in a few weeks in Birmingham, Alabama.

Six days after breaking four minutes in the mile, Joe Waskom finished second in the invitational mile in a personal best 3:56.43, while Washington State's Zach Stallings was fifth in 3:57.93.

In the men's 60 hurdles final, Sam Brixey of the Cougars set a personal best in finishing third in 7.69, while teammate Nick Johnson was eighth in 8.09.

Isaac Green of the Huskies set a personal best in the 3000, as he ran 7:49.74 to finish fourth. In doing so, Green became the second fastest in UW school history.

WSU freshman Micaela De Mello finished seventh in the women's 60 hurdles final in 8.63.

The Cougars' Mitch Jacobson won the high jump at 6-7 (2.01m).

Complete results of the Arkansas Qualifier are available here.

In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the Washington women's distance medley relay team of Madison Heisterman, Carley Thomas, Anna Gibson, and Allie Schadler won their heat Friday in 11:04.73 at the JDL DMR Invitational on the facility's 200 meter flat track.

However in the second section, Virginia Tech ran a facility record 11:00.20 to take the overall victory, and bumped the Huskies to second place overall.

All teams who competed at the JDL Fast Track will be given a conversion allowance of a few seconds to account for the fact that it was run on a 200 meter flat track, thus giving the Huskies a converted time of about 10:57.69, or 7.04 seconds.

Several of the Huskies who ran in Winston-Salem Friday will return to run individual events Saturday.

Day 1 results of the JDL DMR Invitational are available here.

In Spokane, Brigham Young jumped out to an early lead in both the men's and women's competition at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships at The Podium.

The Cougar men lead second place Long Beach State by a 91-49 margin after the completion of six events, while the BYU women lead Long Beach by an 84-62 margin.

The two best marks on the day both came on the mens side, as Zach McWorther of BYU tied Washington's Scott Roth's meet record from 2010 in the pole vault, clearing 18-9.25 (5.72m), while Charlie Vernoy of Long Beach State won the weight throw with a mark of 71-10 (21.89m), which puts him in the mix for one of the 16 spots to the national championships in a few weeks.

Action resumes Saturday at 10 am.

Day 1 results of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships are available here.

NOTE: Spokane Sports, the MPSF, JDL Fast Track, and the sports information offices of the University of Washington, Washington State University, and the University of Arkansas contributed to this report.

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