WSU's Evans Kurui and Washington's Moll twins highlight day 1 of the UW Invitational...
SEATTLE--Washington State's Evans Kurui (Paul Merca photo) improved upon the 7:51.71 time that he ran two weeks ago at the UW Preview to win the men's 3000 to highlight day 1 of the two-day UW Invitational Friday at the Dempsey Indoor hosted by the University of Washington.
Former Western Washington standout Mac Franks, who was tasked with pacing the field, took the field through the first mile before eventually ceding the lead to Kurui, last fall's West Coast and NCAA West regional cross country champ.
Kurui saw that no one was going with him after Franks dropped out, so the Kenyan ran a solo effort the rest of the way, running 7:48.44, finishing over four seconds ahead of Washington's Thomas Diamond.
The Australian finished in a time of 7:52.78. The Huskies' Tyrone Gorze was fourth in 7:53.63, while Rhys Hammond was seventh for Washington in 7:54.33.
On the field, twins Hana and Amanda Moll went 1-2 in the pole vault, clearing a meet record 15-3.5 (4.66m), the second best mark in the NCAA behind Chloe Timburg of Rutgers' 15-5.75 (4.72m) cleared earlier in the day at the Scarlet Knight Open.
Washington's Jami Schlueter set personal bests in three of the four events in the heptathlon, running 6.89 in the 60 to take second, then promptly won the long jump (24-0.25/7.32m).
He then won the shot put with a throw of 47-5.75 (14.47m), just short of his personal best of 47-10.5 (14.59m), then finished the day with a second place finish in the high jump, clearing a personal best 6-4.25 (1.94m), a two-centimeter improvement.
Schlueter leads the competition with 3319 points, 261 up on Washington State's Mason Mahacek's 3058. Drew Klein of Central Washington stands third at the break with 2710 points.
The Western Washington women's distance medley relay team of Sophie Wright (1200m), Bec Bennett (400m), Emmy Kroontje (800m) and Ila Davis (1600m) broke the previous record of 11:27.45 in a third place finish behind Texas Christian and Idaho.
The Vikings ran a NCAA D2 leading time of 11:26.85, as TCU won in 11:13.91, with the Vandals taking second in 11:21.69.
The WWU men's distance medley team of Will Henry (1200m), Brian Le (400m), Jonah Bloom (800m) and Kevin McDermott (1600m) were just off the school record of 9:45.48 set in 2023, as they ran a NCAA D2 leading time of 9:46.21.
Texas Christian won the race in 9:40.89.
Annika Esvelt of Seattle Pacific ran 9:24.80 to win her section of the women's 3000. The time currently stands as the third fastest time in NCAA D2 this season.
Action continues Saturday with the men's and women's miles and the men's 800 expected to be the highlight of the meet on the track and the men's and women's shot puts in the field.
NOTE: The sports information office of the University of Washington contributed to this report.
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