Katie Moon wins second career Wanda Diamond League pole vault final...

ZÜRICH--Former Pullman resident and Washington State volunteer coach Katie Moon (photo courtesy Diamond League AG) won her second career Wanda Diamond League final Wednesday afternoon to help kick off the Weltklassse Zürich meet.

The women's pole vault, which was originally scheduled to be contested on Thursday, was instead moved to Wednesday as part of the Weltklasse's street meet, at the Sechseläutenplatz in front of Zürich’s opera house.

The other events contested Wednesday include the men’s pole vault and long jump, the women’s high jump and the men’s and women’s shot put.

Moon opened up the competition with a first attempt make at 14-11 (4.55m), a height cleared by four others, including Americans Sandi Morris and Emily Grove.

Moon and Morris needed two attempts to navigate the next height of 15-3 (4.65m).

Morris went to the lead with a first attempt make at 15-7 (4.75m), while Grove was clutch on her third attempt at the height to tie her personal best.

Moon missed on her one attempt at the height, then opted to pass to the next bar at 15-9.75 (4.82m).

Grove missed all three attempts at 15-9.75 (4.82m). Morris missed once, before Moon cleared the bar on her first try to take the lead.

With the bar at 16-0.5 (4.89m), Morris missed her two remaining attempts to finish second overall. 

Moon missed at that height, then with the victory in hand, moved the bar up one centimeter to 4.90m or 16-0.75. She missed twice to conclude the competition and walk off with her second career Diamond Trophy, adding to the 2023 trophy won in Eugene.

In the mixed zone, Moon said, "This is my first win in Zurich. I have always wanted to win Zurich. It feels so good. I will take some technical issues with me from Zurich, e.g. staying patient, not rushing things. Today I felt the jet lag more than in Brussels, esp. in the middle of the competition. This is also why I had a default at 4.75m. So my victory wasn't happening without the crowd. I needed their extra energy. I love when the crowd is right there and you feel the energy. To win here and to execute this way gives me a real boost of confidence. In Tokyo I will do everything to retain my title."

"At first I was hoping that we could jump in the stadium. But then we asked the organizers to jump today because jumping in the rain can be very dangerous. I wanted to try 4.90m because it is important to go over this 10cm barrier. I know they chose 4.89m because of Angelica Moser."

The Weltklassse Zürich meet, which is the final major meet before the world championships in Tokyo, resumes Thursday at 8:30 am Pacific/5:30 pm local time.

Flotrack ($) will stream the meet in the USA.

The start list and results from Wednesday's competition is available here.

USTFCCCA DIVISION I PRE-SEASON CROSS COUNTRY RANKINGS RELEASED...

In the NCAA Division I preseason coaches poll, the Washington women's team was ranked number eight, while Gonzaga enters the pre-season as the nation's number 22 team.

Despite losing several key runners from last year's team to graduation in Amina Maatoug and Sophie O'Sullivan, the Huskies, who finished second as a team to Oregon at the Big Ten championships, will be led by the duo of Julia David-Smith (Paul Merca photo) and Chloe Foerster.

David-Smith was ninth at the Big Tens, while Foerster finished sixth.

While the Zags lose All-American Rosina Machu to graduation, NCAA track qualifier Logan Hofstee is expected to be the team's front runner. Hofstee was fifth at last year's West Coast Conference championships, helping lead Gonzaga to the conference championship.

The top five women's teams in the pre-season poll are in order: BYU, Oregon, NC State, New Mexico and West Virginia.

Big Ten teams in the national top 30 include number 15 Penn State, number 17 Michigan State, number 18 Minnesota, and number 19 Wisconsin. The Zags are the lone WCC team in the national top 30.

The Zags also return Willow Collins, who was seventh at the WCCs, and Jessica Frydenlund, who was eighth in the conference meet.

On the men's side, Washington starts the season at number 21, while Washington State begins the campaign one spot behind at number 22.

The Huskies, who were second as a team at the Big Tens behind Wisconsin, will be led by Evan Jenkins, who was sixth at last year's Big Ten championships.

Washington State will have NCAA West Regional champ and All-American Evans Kurui leading the pack for the Cougars.

The nation's top five teams in the preseason poll are in order: Iowa State, New Mexico, Oklahoma State, BYU, and Wisconsin.

Other Big Ten teams in the national top 30 include number 9 Oregon, and number 30 Michigan State.

Washington State is the only team from the WCC in the top 30.

Washington State opens the season Friday with the WSU Alumni Open at the Colfax Golf Club. Gonzaga also opens Friday at the Clash of the Inland Northwest in Cheney, hosted by Eastern Washington on the EWU campus.

Washington opens on Tuesday September 2nd with their annual dual meet with Seattle University at Magnuson Park.

Looking ahead, Gonzaga will host the West Coast Conference championship meet on November 1st, while Washington heads east to the Big Ten championships on Halloween.

The USTFCCCA release is available here.

NOTE: The Weltklasse Zürich meet, the Wanda Diamond League, World Athletics, and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.

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