Husky grad transfers Gault-Crabb and Rhoads show out in Spokane...

SPOKANE--While the Spokane Invitational was essentially a rust buster for the state's eight Division I and II schools, there were some significant performances that came out of Saturday's meet at The Podium.

Washington's Jimmy Rhoads (photo courtesy UW Athletics), a grad transfer from Penn who was sixth at the NCAA outdoor championships in the pole vault for the Quakers this spring, and Husky teammate & Cornell transfer Eli Gault-Crabb had an epic battle in the men's pole vault in what was clearly the event of the day.

Gault-Crabb and UW alum Mathis Bresko started the day with a first attempt make at 16-8.75 (5.10m), while Rhoads waited until the next height of 17-2.75 (5.25m) to enter the competition.

Bresko took the lead with a first attempt make, while Gault-Crabb and Rhoads needed two attempts to navigate the height.

Bresko was eliminated at 17-8.5 (5.40m) while Gault-Crabb and Rhoads needed all three attempts to move on to the next height of 18-0.5 (5.50m).

Both cleared the bar on their second attempts. For Gault-Crabb, that marked a personal best, as he tied his previous personal best on the previous bar.

Rhoads got the win at the next height, clearing 18-4.5 (5.60m) on his first attempt, while Gault-Crabb missed all three attempts at a third straight personal best.

With the victory in hand, the bar went up to 18-8.75 (5.71m), a new personal best and give Rhoads the collegiate lead.

Rhoads cleared the bar on his second attempt to take the collegiate lead, get a personal best, and put himself in the driver's seat to earn one of the sixteen spots at the NCAA championships in Arkansas in March.

Rhoads closed the day with three unsuccessful attempts at tying the Washington school record of 19-0.25 (5.80m) set by world champion Brad Walker in 2003.

Other highlights:

--NCAA Division II outdoor triple jump champion Emy Ntekpere of Central Washington won the women's triple jump with a mark of 40-1.5 (12.23m), which, pending the results of other meets around the country, is the number 2 mark in D2.

Earlier in the day, she was in a battle over the 60 hurdles with Seattle Pacific's Hannah Chang and her Central Washington teammate Ellie DeGroot.  Chang took the win in 8.76, with DeGroot second in a personal best 8.80.

Ntekpere, who set a personal best in qualifying of 8.91, was third in the finals in 8.92.

--Washington's Jonathan Frazier finished second in the men's 60 hurdles, running 8.02.

--With Rosina Machu handling pacing duties after running a school record over 5000 meters last week in Boston, Anna Grabowski led a pack of five Gonzaga Bulldogs across the line in the women's 3000, running 9:28.46 for the win. It's the sixth fastest time in school history.

--Western Washington got wins in the men's weight throw, men's and women's shot puts, the women's high jump, the women's 400, and a 1-2-3-5 finish in the men's 200 meters.

--In addition to Ntekpere's win in the triple jump, Central Washington got wins in the men's 60 and the women's 200.

--Besides Hannah Chang's win in the 60 hurdles for Seattle Pacific, the Falcons got wins in the women's 5000 and men's 400.

Complete results of the Spokane Invitational are available here.

TRIO OF HUSKIES SET TO RACE AT EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPS SUNDAY...

Washington alums Brian Fay and Amina Maatoug, along with current Husky Julia David-Smith are slated to race in Sunday's European Athletics Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal.

David-Smith, who only ran one cross country race this fall due to a slight injury, will race for France in the women's under-23 championship race, which will be approximately 6k (5790m).

The Issaquah HS grad, who won the World University Games 5000 meter title this past summer, tuned up for the European Championships last week in Boston, where she ran 15:45.01, a ten-second indoor personal best, and eleven seconds off her lifetime best set outdoors this past season.

Maatoug, a world championships competitor for The Netherlands in September over 1500 meters, was second overall and the first Dutch runner across the line in the Warandecross meet that served as the Dutch trials for the European Championships on November 30th.

She ran the 10k race in 34:03.

Fay, who won the Irish national cross country title a few weeks ago, is hoping to lead his team to a podium finish.

The women's U23 race gets underway at 1:26 am Pacific time/10:26 am local time.

Both the men's and women's senior races will be contested at approximately 7.5 km (7290m).

The European Athletics Cross Country Championships will be streamed for free on Eurovision Sports. 

The start lists are available here.

NOTE: Spokane Sports, the sports information offices of the University of Washington and Gonzaga, contributed to this report.

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