UW's Trippas and Thorner get Dawgs in position for Sunday's Pac-12 title run with wins...
WALNUT, California--With eight of twenty-one events completed after the second day of competition at the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships at venerable Hilmer Lodge Stadium on the campus of Mt. San Antonio College, both University of Washington squads head into Sunday's grand finale as the team to beat, as the Huskies lead the field, with the men holding a 68-53 lead over second place Arizona, and the women holding a slight 60.5-55 lead over defending champion Oregon.
The Washington men are in position to capture the school's first conference crown since the current iteration of the Pac-8/10/12 began in 1960.
On the track Sunday, the Dawgs have six entries in the 1500, three in the 400 hurdles, one in the 800, and potentially eight in the 5000. They also have four potential scorers in the field, led by defending pole vault champ Jacob Englar, and former discus champ Elijah Mason.
The Huskies won the Pacific Coast Conference title in 1928 in Missoula, Montana, under head coach Hec Edmundson, who was also the basketball coach, and who the basketball arena is named after.
MEN'S RECAP
As expected, Australian Olympian Ed Trippas (Paul Merca photo) won the men's 3000 meter steeplechase going away, running 8:37.26, as he pulled away over the last two laps, injecting a 63.47 penultimate lap, and finishing with a 65.40 to take the victory.
There was one casualty for the Huskies, as Joe Waskom, who was fourth in this meet in this event last year, lost a shoe before the halfway mark, and dropped out, the better to save himself for Sunday's 1500 finals, where he is the defending champion.
Before losing his shoe, Waskom was setting the pace for Trippas, with Washington State's Kelvin Limo stalking the Husky duo.
Former Husky Alex Slenning, now competing for Oregon, finished third in 8:44.69, and Limo was fourth in 8:52.52. Sam Griffith of the Cougs got the eighth and final scoring position in 9:05.93.
Ollie Thorner led a Washington 1-3-4 finish in the decathlon, scoring a personal best 7761 points, with Bruno Comin Pescador third at 7611, and first day leader Jami Schlueter fourth with a personal best 7545 points.
Thorner's day started with a 15.13 time in the 110 hurdles. He then threw the discus 143-5 (43.73m), then tied for second in the pole vault with a clearance of 15-3.75 (4.67m), at which he took the overall lead.
In the javelin, he threw 173-11 (53.03m) to lose the lead to Oregon's Rafael Raap, who won the event with a throw of 195-7 (59.61m) to hold a 7031-6965 lead going into the 1500.
Thorner took the lead from the start in the 1500 and won in 4:22.35, with Raap 20-plus seconds back in 4:42.43. Raap ended up second with 7695 points.
Thorner became the Huskies’ first winner in the event since Olympian Jeremy Taiwo in 2011.
Washington State's Lee Walburn finished fifth with a two-day total of 7256 points.
With the combined events the only disciplines not subject to a regional qualifying round, both Thorner and Comin Pescador should advance to the national championships in Austin, Texas next month. Schlueter is on the bubble, pending the results of conference championship meets around the country this weekend.
A pleasant surprise came in the long jump, as Prestin Artis of Washington finished fourth with a wind-aided (+2.4) jump of 25-2.75 (7.69m) in the final round.
Teammate Tim Luebbert was in early scoring position after leaping a wind-aided (+2.6) 24-6.5 (7.48m) in round 1, but couldn't improved and finished ninth, missing the final scoring position by one centimeter.
The Cougars' Ronald Grueso Mosqquera was sixth in the shot put, throwing 61-11.75 (18.89m).
Among advancers to Sunday's running event finals for the Cougars: Parker Duskin in the 110 hurdles (14.36); and Louie Hinchliffe in the 100 (10.25).
Washington's Sam Ellis was the only one to advance in the 800, running the fastest time of the day in 1:50.05.
WOMEN'S RECAP
In the penultimate field event completed Saturday, Sara Borton and Nastassja Campbell of the Huskies shared the pole vault crown, jumping 14-3.25 (4.35m).
The duo matched jumps through 4.35m (14-3.25), giving the Huskies the event title for the seventh time in the past nine championships.
Ashleigh Helms, who was second at the Pac-12s last year, tied for eighth place with a jump of 13-3.5 (4.05m).
Ida Eikeng (Paul Merca photo), the first day leader of the heptathlon, could not hang on to the overall lead going into the 800, which has been her Achilles heel. Eikeng finished with a personal best 6114 points, topping her previous best by 14 points set at the Mt. SAC Relays here in Walnut last month.
Eikeng started the day in the long jump, where her best was 19-9.5 (6.03m). She won the javelin with a throw of 167-6 (51.06m), then ran 2:37.97 in the 800.
Former Seattle Pacific standout Renick Meyer of Washington State, who was coming off a bout of mononucleosis, dropped out after the javelin.
As she did last month at the Mt. SAC Relays, USC's Allie Jones won the title with a score of 6234 points, which tops her NCAA D1 leading score of 6217.
In the steeplechase, Husky grad student Kayley DeLay hung with the Oregon State duo of Grace Featherstonhaugh and former Seattle Pacific standout Kaylee Mitchell, before fading to third, running 9:54.77.
Featherstonhaugh, the Canadian world championships competitor, pulled away for the win in 9:39.23, while Mitchell was a solid second in 9:45.21.
Washington State's Caroline Jerotich was eighth in 10:17.00.
In other field event finals, Kaia Tupu-South of the Huskies was third in the shot put at 55-7.75 (16.96m), and teammate Makayla Kelby fifth at 53-9.75 (16.40m). Washington State's Nana Gyedu was ninth at 51-3 (15.62m).
Beatrice Asomaning of Washington was seventh in the hammer at 190-2 (57.98m), and Washington State's Tara Koonce ninth at 185-3 (56.48m).
Washington State's Micaela De Mello notched a season-best 13.09 to qualify for the women's 100-meter hurdles final and Elena Willems lived to fight another day in the women's 800-meter with a 2:06.63 to qualify in ninth overall.
Defending conference 800 champ Carley Thomas was the Huskies' lone advancer, running the fastest time of the day in 2:04.88.
Sunday's action begins at 11 am with the men's discus, while the 4 x 100 relays kick off the final day of racing on the track at 1:00 pm. The meet will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
NOTE: The Pac-12 Conference and the sports information offices of Washington and Washington State contributed to this report.
paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links.
Comments