Huskies earn historic fourth place finish at NCAA indoor championships...
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico--After Friday night's session where the Huskies finished fourth in the distance medley relay, and got points in the weight throw from Jayden White, there was a sense of optimism around the UW camp that they were ready for a strong performance Saturday on the final night of the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
After seventeen events, the Dawgs wound up right behind three SEC powers, as pre meet favorite Arkansas won the title with 63 points. Georgia took second with 40, then Florida with 34, and the Huskies with 31 points.
That was the highest finish in school history at the indoor championships when the 2016 team finished sixth, and the highest regardless since 1930 when Washington finished second in the NCAA outdoor championship meet.
One of the biggest stories about the Husky men's squad from a national perspective was that the team's depth in the mile was unprecedented, with seven (not counting Sam Ellis, who only has outdoor eligibility remaining) breaking 4 minutes not once, but twice in the same meet.
The Huskies' Luke Houser (Paul Merca photo) from Woodinville, who was fifth last spring in the 1500 at the NCAA outdoor championships in Eugene, turned the table on his close friend and defending outdoor champ Joe Waskom, to win the mile, with Waskom finishing fourth, Nathan Green taking fifth, and Brian Fay earning an eight place finish to get 20 points in one event from four scorers.
The last time four scorers came from the same school in a single event was in 1994 when four throwers from UCLA scored in the men's shot put.
As expected in a championship race, the pace was slow through the first two laps, with the leaders going through in about mid-65 seconds.
Houser edged his way to the front by the half mile mark at a bit over 2:07 with Fay a half step ahead, the better to position himself for a decisive charge to the finish.
Fay and Houser worked together to slowly put the pressure on the field to react to whatever the duo decided to do.
With a little over two laps to go, Houser made a break away from Fay and the field. On the penultimate lap, Waskom pulled alongside him with visions of taking the victory for himself.
As they rounded the turn with less than 100 meters to go, Houser turned on the jets and held on for the victory in 4:03.33, with Drake's Isaac Basten almost sneaking by before the finish to take second in 4:03.36.
Collegiate leader Anass Essayi of South Carolina was third in 4:03.61, with Waskom fourth in 4:03.73. Green hung back for most of the race, and rallied to take fifth in 4:03.86, while Fay, who helped set the table for the trio, finished eighth in 4:05.07.
When Washington first put eight men under four minutes at the UW Invitational in January, Houser was only sixth.
The NCAA champ said, "I saw my teammates running incredible early in the season and I was a little behind, but I saw them having success and I said I'm training with them, I'm doing all the workouts, my time will come. I just had to stay patient. I was building momentum in every race this season, and I was confident that I could come out here and win."
"The unique thing is it's just never happened where there's four guys who scored in the mile," said UW men's head coach Andy Powell. "They worked together to try to get the most out of themselves and it was pretty special. Luke's been such a good teammate, he helped Joe win last year. Everyone's super happy for him."
The day started with Spanish heptathlete Bruno Comin Pescador taking eighth place with a seven event score of 5992 points, just short of his personal best of 6061, set two weeks ago.
He started the day by running 8.14 in the 60 hurdles, then only managed to clear 15-7.25 (4.76m) in the pole vault to move to tenth overall, after starting day 2 in 11th place.
In the climactic 1000 meter run, the "Fisherman" fell just short of his personal best of 2:37.02, running 2:37.79 to move all the way up to eighth, and tie the highest placing by a Husky in the indoor version of the multi events when Jeremy Taiwo was eighth in 2011.
Georgia's Kyle Garland won with a collegiate record 6639.
In his final race as a Husky, Vancouver native Kieran Lumb, who seemingly was out of a podium spot (top eight), somehow squeezed an eighth place finish in the 3000, running 8:02.63, in a race won by Oklahoma State's Fouad Messaoudi in 7:48.10.
Fay, who doubled back from the mile, was 15th in 8:17.60.
Former Husky Jonah Wilson, now competing as a grad student at Nebraska, finished second in the shot put with a throw of 68-7.25 (20.91m)
Husky head coach Andy Powell talked about the total team effort to achieve this, which saw UW tied for the most men's entries at the meet with 13.
"What makes it special is all the coaches and all the support staff and all the athletes on the team, whether they're here or not, they all contributed," said Powell. "That's what's great about track and field. You have a lot of athletes and coaches in different events that come together as one, which is pretty special. This doesn't happen without all of them."
WOMEN'S RECAP
With no Washington or Washington State women qualifying to compete on Saturday, there was a great battle between two Washington high school products in the women's 3000.
Woodinville native Olivia Markezich of Notre Dame took the early lead before ceding to Lake Stevens native Taylor Roe of Oklahoma State, Alabama's Mercy Chelangat and Hilda Olemomoi, & North Carolina State's Katelyn Tuohy, the winner of Friday's 5000 meters.
Tuohy pulled away from Roe, who came into the meet as the defending champion to win in 9:10.07.
After dropping back a few spots, Markezich rallied and caught Roe near the finish to take second in 9:13.01 with Roe third at 9:13.22.
Former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell finished tenth in 9:18.40.
University Place native Lexi Ellis of Oregon was eighth in the triple jump with a personal best of 45-10 (13.97m), while former WSU Cougar Charisma Taylor of Tennessee was second in a personal best 48-10 (14.88m).
Taylor was also third in the 60 hurdles in 7.93.
The Arkansas Razorbacks made it a sweep of the team titles, winning the women's crown with 64 points, followed by Texas with 60, Florida with 45 and Stanford with 33. Washington wound up in a tie for 24th-place in the final standings. That's the highest for the women at indoors since 2016.
NOTE: The NCAA, and the sports information office of the University of Washington contributed to this report.
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