Cass Elliott's UW SR 49.26 over 400 hurdles at Desert Heat highlight busy weekend...
Here are the highlights of a busy weekend as the collegians made the final push before the start of the championship season in two weeks, while the pro season starts to really ramp up as they point to the national championships in July and the overseas season.
DESERT HEAT CLASSIC (Tucson)
In Tucson, Washington's Cass Elliott (UW Athletics photo) broke the school record set in 2006 by Shane Charles, as he won the featured men's 400 hurdles at the Desert Heat Classic Saturday night hosted by the University of Arizona at Drachman Stadium.
Elliott defeated a field that included Iowa's Julien Gillum two-time Bahamian national champion Shakeem Smith, and Ito win the race in 49.26, with Gillum second in 49.73, and Smith third in 50.15.
Elliott's time is the fourth fastest collegiate mark this season, and lowered Charles' previous school record of 49.51.
In the process, he towed along teammates Jonathan Birchman to a fourth place finish in the heat, running a personal best 50.40, and Matthew Wilkinson to a season best 52.02.
The men's javelin saw the Huskies' Chandler Ault finish second with a throw of 229-0 (69.81m), just ahead of Eastern Wshington's Ryan Rieckmann's 218-3 (66.54m).
The Huskies' Jack Olsen was seventh at 209-7 (63.90m), while Brady Gockel was ninth at 198-2 (60.41m).
Makayla Kelby of the Dawgs was third in the shot put at 54-6 (16.61m), with Kaia Tupu-South fourth at 54-0 (16.46m).
UW's Elijah Mason just missed the 60-meter mark in the men's discus, throwing 196-10 (59.99m) to take third.
Eastern Washington's Savannah Schultz was fourth in the women's pole vault at 13-3.5 (4.05m).
PENN RELAYS (Philadelphia)
On a drizzly afternoon at Philadelphia's Franklin Field, the Huskies made their first appearance at the famed Penn Relays since 2009 hoping to bring home a Relay wheel given to the top team in each of the relay races.
The vaunted Washington 4 x mile team of Aaron Ahl, Sam Ellis, Joe Waskom and Luke Houser, who on paper were the clear favorites, instead fell short in a tactical sprint finish.
On the second leg of the day, Ellis ran the fastest split of the foursome, running 3:58.38.
On the anchor leg, the pace slowed significantly with six teams in contention.
Houser was boxed in and tried to make a late move once he got room but Villanova had come around outside of the rest of the field and won in 16:14.03, followed by Wisconsin in 16:14.24, and Washington in 16:14.31.
In the women's 4 x 1500, the UW team of Chloe Foerster, Carley Thomas, Kayley DeLay and Sophie O'Sullivan finished third in 17:15.64. Foerster had the fastest split at about 4:17.
In the men's 4 x 800, the same foursome that ran the 4 x mile finished ninth in 7:28.40, with Houser running the fastest split at 1:50.50.
The UW women's 4 x 800 squad finished second, running 8:28.50, behind Penn State's 8:23.81.
Foerster once again got the Huskies into the lead after one leg, splitting 2:07.45. Madison Heisterman then split 2:07.50 with the Huskies in second. O'Sullivan ran the third leg and split 2:07.83 as Penn State opened up a several second lead with the Huskies in second and another gap to Villanova and Michigan in third and fourth. Thomas anchored and had the best split of the group in 2:05.72 but Penn State won for the second year in a row.
DRAKE RELAYS (Des Moines)
In rainy Des Moines, Iowa, Washington State alum CJ Allen continued his strong early season, winning the men's 400 hurdles for the second year in a row at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa Saturday.
Allen easily won the race in 48.78.
Fellow WSU alum Paul Ryan won the invitational men's 1500 in 3:40.23, while former Brooks Beast David Ribich was fourth in 3:42.29.
Washington alum Gianna Woodruff was third in the women's 400 hurdles in a time of 56.62. UW volunteer assistant coach Alli Cash was eighth in the women's 1500 in a time of 4:14.71.
FRESNO STATE INVITATIONAL (Clovis)
In Clovis, California, Washington State's Micaela De Mello clocked a season-best 13.42 to earn her first win of the outdoor season in the women's 100m hurdles at the Fresno State Invitational.
The Cougars' Louie Hinchliife tallied his second collegiate win in the men's 100-meter dash after clocking a 10.33 and Skyler Walton finished third in the women's 100-meter dash field with a personal-best time of 11.55.
The Husky men took three jumping events, led by Prestin Artis, who had an outdoor season-best of 24-11.25 (7.60m), which moved him into the Husky top-10 list at the No. 8 spot.
Not long after, Jacob Englar won the pole vault, getting a first attempt clearance at 17-4.5 (5.30m).
Another win then came from Tim Luebbert, who leaped a lifetime-best of 50-4.5 (15.35m) to easily win the triple jump. That moves him into Top-10 territory for the first time as he is now No. 9 in school history.
The women's invitational pole vault saw UW alum Olivia Gruver win with a clearance of 14-9 (4.50m), with the Huskies' Nastassja Campbell second at 13-11.75 (4.26m), and Sara Borton third at 13-7.75 (4.16m).
Ida Eikeng was second in the women's javelin with a toss of 160-8 (48.97m).
OREGON STATE HIGH PERFORMANCE (Corvallis)
At the two-day Oregon State High Performance meet that concluded Saturday in Corvallis hosted by Oregon State University, Washington State University got wins in the men's shot put from Ronald Grueso Mosqqeda (60-3/18.36m), Kolby Weiss in the women's pole vault (12-5.5/3.80m), Max Moore in the men's discus (171-6/52.27m), and Kelvin Limo in the men's invitational steeplechase (8:48.34).
Hezekiah Goodwin of Seattle University got the Redhawks their lone win in the men's open steeple, clocking 9:17.70. Gonzaga got a win from Caramia Mestler in the women's 10000 at 34:15.89.
RALPH VERNACCHIA INVITATIONAL (Bellingham)
Former national high school pole vault record holder Chloe Cunliffe had the best mark of the day at Saturday's Ralph Vernacchia Invitational at Civic Stadium.
Cunliffe, a product of West Seattle HS before turning pro and moving to Atlanta to train under UW legend Brad Walker and Olympic champ Katie Nageotte in Atlanta, entered the competition at 13-3.75 (4.06m), and had clean bars through her winning height of 14-3.5 (4.36m) before missing her three attempts at 14-7.5 (4.46m).
Host Western Washington University got twelve wins on the day, led by Katie Potts in the discus, as she threw 151-1 (46.67m), the eighth furthest throw in GNAC conference history.
Other top marks on the day came from Central Washington's E'Lexis Hollis who ran 11.63 to win the women's 100; teammate Lauryn Chandler, who won the women's 100 hurdles in 14.11; Western Washington's Jeret Gillingham in the men's steeplechase at 8:57.80; and the Vikings' Jaydon Tryon in the men's javelin (196-3/59.83m), and Ryan Greenwalt in the men's long jump (23-4.5/7.13m).
NOTE: The media relations department of the University of Arizona, University of Washington, Penn Relays, Drake Relays, Fresno State University, Oregon State University, and Western Washington University contributed to this report.
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