Joe Waskom of the Huskies takes the NCAA 1500m title...

EUGENE--Joe Waskom (Paul Merca photo) of the University of Washington used the same strategy of staying off the front of the pack that won him the Pac-12 1500 meter title to win the national championship in the 1500 meters to highlight day 3 of the NCAA Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field Friday night.

Waskom took advantage of a relatively slow but expected pace in a championship meet final, as the field went through the 400 in about 61 seconds and the 800 at approximately 2:07.

Teammate Luke Houser injected some pace by going to the front shortly before the kilometer mark and led past the 1200 point, before Waskom took over on the outside.

The third year sophomore from Snoqualmie ran a 53.26 last 400 to take the victory in a time of 3:45.58, holding off Ole Miss' Mario Garcia Romo, who made a late charge, but fell short, stopping the watch at 3:45.69.

Houser finished fifth in 3:46.13, while UW outdoor school record holder and true freshman Nathan Green was seventh in 3:46.26.

"I wasn't even here at this meet last year," Waskom first said while being interviewed on the track after his win. "I was running the steeplechase. Things weren't going too well at the beginning of the season, so I had a talk with my coach (Andy Powell) and decided we'd move down to the 15. I just started finding my groove again, and got really confident. I've been closing all my races really good … I really, really wanted this one."

In the mixed zone, Waskom told reporters, "I knew if I went with three-hundred (meters) to go that I'd at least get to the lead. I didn't know if I'd hold it. I did everything I could today, with the help of these boys (Green and Houser). These boys are why I won today. I believe in them, they believe in me. There's a reason there's three of us out here today."

Waskom won the first outdoor title for the UW since pole vaulter Scott Roth won in 2011. In doing so, he is the first Husky man to win the 1,500/mile title outdoors since 1928, when Rufus Kiser won the mile in a time of 4:17.6.

In other finals Friday, Washington State's Mitch Jacobson finished fifth in the high jump, as he cleared a personal best 7-3 (2.21m).

The 3000 steeplechase saw Kenneth Rooks of BYU via College Place HS near Walla Walla set another personal best in finishing sixth in 8:22.56, just short of the qualifying standard for the world championships on this track next month.

Washington State's Colton Johnsen finished eleventh in 8:37.38.

Washington's Elijah Mason became a three-time First Team All-American as he placed seventh in the discus final, coming up big with a season-best launch of 195-6 (59.60m), while Brian Fay of the Huskies was seventh in the 5000 meters, running 13:31.39.

While he did not get to run in either the semis or the finals, Federal Way native Kemuel Santana was the alternate on Florida's 4 x 400 relay team that won the race in a meet record 2:58.88. The Gators' victory clinched the team title, as they scored 54 points.

Washington's Ida Eikeng sits in third after the first day of competition in the heptathlon with 3640 points.

The Norwegian product started with a season-best in the 100m hurdles, going 13.54, and then she matched her PR in the high jump, making 5-7.75 (1.72m) with a clutch third-attempt make. Eikeng went 42-2.25 (12.86m) in the shot put, and then closed with a major personal-best 200-meter sprint. She went 23.81, the fifth-fastest time in school history, to keep herself in the top three.

Anna Hall of Florida, who won the US national title a few weeks ago to qualify for the world championships, currently leads with 3922 points, followed by Duke's Erin Marsh with 3674.

Here's the list of athletes with Washington ties competing in the final day of the meet:

10:30 AM Heptathlon Day 2 Ida Eikeng/UW

2:00 PM High Jump Final Aislinn Overby/WSU

2:05 PM Discus Final Beatrice Asomaning/UW

2:50 PM Triple Jump Final Lexi Ellis/Oregon 

2:54 PM 3000 Steeple Final Olivia Markezich/Notre Dame, Kaylee Mitchell/OreSt

4:13 PM 800 Meters Hept. Ida Eikeng/UW

4:25 PM 5000 Meters Final Taylor Roe/Oklahoma St.

Complete day 3 results are available here.

NOTE: The NCAA, USTFCCCA and the sports information offices of the University of Washington, Washington State University and the University of Oregon contributed to this report.

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