UW's Brian Fay wins Pac-12 steeple crown to highlight day 2 of championships...
EUGENE--Even though Brian Fay (Paul Merca photo) of Washington entered the Pac-12 steeplechase competition at Hayward Field early Saturday night without a mark, the graduate student from Ireland was considered by many as the most dangerous man in the field.
Fay won the Irish national championship in 2021, and also owned a personal best of 8:29.75, set last year in Hungary, so in the minds of perhaps many in perhaps the best steeple field at the Pac-12 track and field championships in recent memory, he was a legitimate contender.
The nearly 4500 fans in attendance on the second day of competition were treated to a great competition as Fay bided his time, letting Husky teammates Joe Waskom and Sam Affolder do the work, before pouncing over the last two laps.
Stanford's Ky Robinson took a lead with two laps to go and Fay moved up to stay on his heels. Washington State's Colton Johnsen from Bellingham also moved up to make it a three-man race.
As they entered the final water jump, he made a strong push off the barrier and actually opened a gap between the other two runners. He used the momentum to open more distance entering the final straight, cruising to the win in 8:32.47, a mark which was the best time at the conference championships since Oregon State's Karl Van Calcar won in 8:30.13 in 1988.
Robinson was second at 8:33.91, while Johnsen was third in 8:34.33.
Waskom finished fourth in 8:41.72, while Affolder was seventh in 8:44.54. Washington State's Kelvin Limo picked up the last point in the race with his eighth place finish in 8:48.66.
"The pace was okay, and it kind of suited me there with the hard close," said Fay. "I'm not used to steepling with loads of bodies, so that was kind of new, not to be able to sight the barriers until late, so my jumping was not too clean the first 2k, but I managed to get it under control and rally the last (kilomenter) and last 400, so it worked out well."
Both Fay (3:41.74) and Waskom (3:41.62 PR) return Sunday to run the 1500, where they had the first and third fastest times from Friday's qualifying round.
Other highlights from day 2:
--In the men's hammer, the Huskies' Jayden White threw a personal best 230-4 (70.21m) to take second, while teammate Connor Jost was fifth with a personal best 218-0 (66.46m);
--In one of the two qualifying races, Washington State's Micaela De Mello set a new school record in the 100 hurdles, running 13.07, breaking her own record by 1/100th of a second set at Arizona State in April;
--Washington's Carley Thomas showed that she's close to being back from the leg injury she suffered in an accident in 2020, as she won her heat of the 800 in 2:03.55, despite easing up the last 50 meters after knowing her spot in Sunday's finals was safe;
--In the combined events, freshman Jami Schlueter and junior Ollie Thorner of Washington finished third and fourth in the decathlon, scoring 6887 and 6715 points, respectively. Thorner's mark is even more remarkable, as his score came despite a no-height in the high jump.
The Huskies' Hannah Ruskak, the 2019 conference heptathlon champion, was a gamer, taking only one attempt in both the long jump (18-1.75/5.53m), and the javelin (155-8/47.45m) as she tried to nurse a balky hamstring.
In the 800, she was tenth in 2:42.89, giving her a final score of 5291 points, which would have been a school record three years ago when she had that remarkable run.
WSU's Peyton Teevens finished eighth with 5063 points;
--In the women's long jump, Washington State's Anna Rodgers' one mark of 19-9 (6.02m) was good for a sixth place finish, while the Huskies' Jelani Heath finished one place behind with a personal best of 19-5.5 (5.93m).
The Pac-12 track and field championships conclude Sunday with with the crowning of 26 more event champions as well as the Pac-12 team titles and will be broadcast live on Pac-12 Network, the Pac-12 Now app and Pac-12.com beginning at 1 p.m. PT.
EDITOR'S NOTES...
With the resources we have being focused into the Pac-12 championships in Eugene, a recap of the other conference meets involving Washington teams, and pros will be published later Sunday. We apologize for this in advance.
NOTE: The sports information office of the University of Washington, Washington State, and the Pac-12 Conference contributed to this report.
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