Cougs earn four wins, while Zags take a pair at Spokane Sports Showcase meet...
SPOKANE--Washington State athletes won four events, while Gonzaga's runners earned two wins at Friday's Spokane Sports Showcase, contested at The Podium.
On the women's side, the Cougars got wins from Jasneet Niijar (Paul Merca file photo), who ran a strong race to win the 400 in a season best of 54.11, which for the time being, is the third fastest time in NCAA Division I, as two other runners from the University of Arkansas ran faster at the Arkansas Invitational earlier in the day.
The Cougars' Eva Lowder won the women's pole vault with a clearance of 13-10 (4.22m), which is currently tied for number seven on the NCAA descending order list, according to athletic.net.
Washington State's lone individual event win on the men's side came in the triple jump, where Eli Lawrence bounded to a personal best 49-1 (14.96m).
The Cougs got a win in the final event of the day, as the team of Jared McAlvey, Grant Buckmiller, Mason Lawyer, and Ethan Willems took the 4 x 400 relay in 3:11.24.
The mark is currently the fastest time in the nation so far this season.
Wil Smith of Gonzaga, who earned his first career sub-4 minute mile on The Podium track last year, cruised to victory in the mile, running 4:04.62 after a fairly slow first quarter mile.
The Zags' other win came in the men's 3000, as Sam Geiger led five other Bulldogs across the line, winning in 8:13.67.
For Eastern Washington, their best finishes on the day came in the men's weight throw, where Bradley Fillis took second with a throw of 59-1.25 (18.01m), and three third place finishes from Ellie Linnenburger in the women's 3000 (10:17.60); Savannah Schultz in the women's pole vault (12-3.5/3.75m); and Zach Klobutcher in the men's pole vault (16-6.75/5.05m).
One of the most entertaining races of the day came in the second section of the men's 300, featuring a trio of Washington state high school standouts competing as true freshmen for their schools.
Grant Buckmiller of Washington State (Lake Stevens) won the heat over Stanford's Will Floyd (Seattle Prep), and USC's Jacob Andrews (Sehome) with times of 32.88, 33.14, and 33.51, respectively. They finished 3-4-5 in the overall standings, as Johnnie Blockburger of USC won in 32.68 in the first section.
Action continues later Friday night with the first events of the Spokane Indoor Challenge.
WORLD CHAMP KATIE MOON AND UW FRESHMAN HANA MOLL HEADLINE POLE VAULT SUMMIT ELITE COMPETITION...
Budapest world champion and former Pullman resident Katie Moon, along with Washington freshman Hana Moll are among the headliners for Friday night's elite section of the women's pole vault at the National Pole Vault Summit at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center.
The women's pole vault field also features Olympians Sandi Morris and Katerina Stefanidi, as well as Washington alum Olivia Gruver.
Action gets underway at 7:30 pm Pacific time, and will be live streamed on Instagram at @flo.vault.
The start list is available as a series of posts on the @polevaultsummit Instagram page.
NOTE: Spokane Sports and the National Pole Vault Summit contributed to this report.
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