Missed Washington NCAA qualifiers, Dawgs drop in final USTFCCCA index, and transfers...
Well, it turns out that after making revisions to the post Sunday night about six athletes with Washington ties qualifying for the NCAA Division I track and field championship finals next week in Eugene, it turns out there are more, thanks to some sharp-eyed readers of the blog.
The most obvious miss was Lake Stevens HS alum Taylor Roe of Oklahoma State, who finished third in the 5000 meters at the West regional preliminary meet, where she ran 15:53.21.
Another miss was Connell HS graduate Ashton Riner (Paul Merca photo) of BYU, who won the javelin at the West regional with a throw of 187-10 (57.25m). Riner was a US Olympic Trials qualifier last year, and goes into the NCAA championships as the collegiate leader.
The third athlete we missed was USC's Trey Knight of Ridgefield HS, who finished seventh in the West regional with a throw of 219-0 (66.76m).
The fourth we missed was Colby Wilson of Montana State from Olympia's Capital HS, who earned the 12th and final spot in the pole vault, clearing 17-4.25 (5.29m).
Thank you to all who chimed in--it is appreciated!
HUSKIES DROP BUT STAY IN THE TOP 25 IN FINAL REGULAR SEASON RATING INDEX...
Both University of Washington squads dropped positions in the final USTFCCCA regular season ranking index released Tuesday.
The Washington men dropped three spots to number 19, while the Husky women dropped eight positions to number 24.
The rankings reflect only the marks of athletes advancing to the national finals in Eugene next week, and do not count marks in secondary event (i.e., if a runner qualified for nationals in the 5000 and not the 10000, their 10000 mark is not used for ranking purposes).
The top five men's teams entering next week's national championship meet are in order: Georgia, Texas, Florida State, BYU, and LSU.
Men's teams from the Pac-12 in the national top 25 include number 9 Stanford, number 12 USC, number 13 Oregon, and number 22 Arizona State.
The top five women's teams going into next week's national title meet are in order: Texas, Florida, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and LSU.
Pac-12 teams in the top 25 include number 9 Oregon, number 10 Colorado, number 17 USC, number 19 Stanford, number 20 Arizona State, and number 25 Cal.
The USTFCCCA release is available here.
TRANSFERS...
In the recently concluded season, Gaik finished fifth in the 400 at the Big Sky indoor championships, and was a key contributor to their relay squads outdoors, as the Eagles finished second in the 4x100 in the conference championship meet. In 2021, he finished third in the 400 at the Big Sky outdoor championships.
Though Eastern Washington has not officially announced it yet, sources told paulmerca.blogspot.com that one of the reasons for the Kentwood HS grad's decision to transfer is because Eagle men's head coach Stan Kerr is retiring at the end of the school year.
According to his TFRRS profile, Gaik has collegiate bests of 6.88 (60m), 10.65 (100m), 21.46 (200), and 47.00 (400).
Gonzaga announced that Oregon's Caramia Mestler will join the Zags this fall as a graduate transfer.
During her time at Oregon, Mestler, a native of Eugene, was a fixture on the Ducks' travel squads for both cross country and track and a member of two teams that reached the national championship race in cross country. A redshirt junior this spring, she comes to GU with one year of eligibility.
The Gonzaga release is available here.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA and the sports information office at Gonzaga University contributed to this report.
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5 men’s outdoor titles in the past 10 editions.