Joe Waskom & Carley Thomas break own UW school records winning in Lignano...
LIGNANO, Italy--Two University of Washington school records fell Friday night at the 34th Meeting Internazionale Sport Solidarietà, as Joe Waskom (Paul Merca photo) and Carley Thomas tightened their grip on their own school records over 1500 meters, and 800 meters, respectively.
In the penultimate race of the evening, Waskom won the 1500 meters in a new meet record time of 3:34.64, beating the old school record of 3:35.32 set last week in finishing second at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene.
With UW alum Sam Ellis serving as one of the pacers along with Ireland's Shane Bracken, Waskom tucked in the middle of the pack behind recent Husky grad Kieran Lumb, who like Waskom, was in search of the world championships standard of 3:34.20 before the Canadian championships in Langley in two weeks.
Through the first 500, Lumb and Waskom had to fight traffic and couldn't get near the two pacers. In fact, Waskom was jostled at the 550 mark, but maintained his composure and balance.
Lumb found some running room before the 800 meter mark, and opened a small gap on Waskom. In fact, Waskom was only ninth at the bell, with Lumb in fifth.
As the field got to the 1200 meter mark at 2:52.95, Ellis moved off the track, and Waskom put on a burst to get himself into second. Fifty meters later, Waskom took the lead for good, and maintained it to the finish, crossing the line in 3:34.64.
Lumb finished 14th in 3:38.22.
His time of 3:34.64 is worth 1180 points plus 40 points for a Group D win for a total of 1220 points, raising his 5 race average to 1203 (1202.6) points, which puts him for the time being around 48th on the Road to Budapest list.
In the women's 800 an hour earlier, Thomas got off to a solid start, finding herself in the middle of the pack, with Olympia native Brooke Feldmeier a step or two behind.
Pacer Samantha Sago of Italy took the field through the first 400 in 58.53, before moving off the track.
Thomas was in fourth through 600 meters, then swung to the outside exiting the final turn, passing McKenna Keegan of the Portland based Nike Union Athletics Club, and Kristie Schoffield to win in a personal best and school record 1:59.95, breaking her old school record of 2:02.02, and her previous personal best of 2:01.01 set in 2019 at the London Diamond League meet before the start of her freshman season.
That run just missed the world championships standard of 1:59.80, which only two Australians--Catriona Bisset & Abbey Caldwell currently hold. Thomas is ranked number 6 among Australians in the Road to Budapest list in the women's 800.
As a courtesy, we are embedding the meet below. Go to the 1:15:15 mark to watch the women's 800, and to the 2:08:30 mark to watch the men's 1500.
In Dublin, Ireland, UW alum Julius Diehr finished 18th in the men's 5000 at the Morton Games, running 14:15.75.
Kyle Langford of the Brooks Beasts, was on the start list in the men's 800, but did not compete.
NOTE: The Meeting Internazionale “Sport Solidarietà" and the Morton Games contributed to this report.
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