Foerster and Tupu-South lead UW women's record assault at Husky Classic...
SEATTLE--It was the ladies' turn to shine on the final day of the Husky Classic, as school records were broken twice by Washington's Chloe Foerster (Paul Merca photo) and Kaia Tupu-South in the mile and the shot put Saturday at the Dempsey Indoor Facility Saturday.
Foerster, the sophomore from Portland, took down the 4:28.48 mile school record of Katie Flood, which had stood since 2012, as she ran 4:28.14. At the time, Flood's mark was the fourth fastest in NCAA history, and in that season, Flood led the Huskies to the indoor distance medley title, and won the 1500 outdoors.
Foerster sat behind Portland's Laura Pellicoro for most of the race, then made a decisive move with just over 200 meters to go,
Down the homestretch she kept her form through the line and leaned across to earn herself the school record in 4:28.14. It's the fourth-fastest time in the NCAA this year in what is already shaping up to be the fastest field ever.
On the field, fellow Husky sophomore Kaia Tupu-South threw 56-4 (17.17m) to take the shot put over Tokyo heptathlon Olympian Annie Kunz's 47-0.75 (14.34m), and put the native of New Zealand in a tie for 14th on the NCAA descending order list.
Tupu-South broke her own school record of 56-2 (17.12m) set last week at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational.
Freshman Amanda Moll, the first American high schooler to clear 15 feet in the pole vault last year at Olympia's Capital HS, got herself in contention for one of the 16 spots in next month's NCAA championships, as she cleared a season best 14-4 (4.37m).
This puts Moll in a tie for 12th in NCAA D1 with teammate Nastassja Campbell, with fellow Husky Sara Borton in 14th. Moll's twin sister Hana is the current NCAA leader at 15-2.75 (4.64m) set two weeks ago. Campbell, Borton & Hana Moll were all given the weekend off.
Other highlights at the Dempsey:
--Aaron Las Heras of Northern Arizona led three other men under 4 minutes in the mile, as the transfer from Wake Forest won in 3:58.22;
--Meghan Hunter of BYU won the women's 800 in 2:02.17, with Washington's Wilma Nielsen third in 2:02.89, as Nielsen gets into the NCAA top 16;
--The Huskies' Prestin Artis continued his winning ways, taking the men's long jump at 25-4.5 (7.73m);
--Eastern Washington's Caitlin (Egypt) Simmons completed a long/triple jump double victory Saturday. After winning the triple jump Friday night at 41-2.25 (12.55m), the Eagle transfer from Hawaii added the long jump, soaring 19-11.75 (6.09m).
In Spokane, Washington State shot putters Ronald Grueso Mosquera and Nana Gyedu combined to sweep the men's and women's events at the Whitworth Invitational contested at The Podium.
Grueso Mosquera reached a season best mark of 59-1.5 (18.02m), while Gyedu threw 51-8.25 (15.75m) to win her third straight meet.
Central Washington's E'Lexis Hollis won the women's 60 in 7.38 to put her in a tie for third on the NCAA D2 descending order list with GNAC conference rival Marie-Eloise Leclair of Simon Fraser, in anticipation of their matchup at the GNAC championship meet in nine days back at The Podium.
NOTE: The sports information office of the University of Washington, Washington State, Gonzaga, and Whitworth University contributed to this report.
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