Scott Toney finishes ninth at Fly Athens pole vault meet...
At the Fly Athens Indoor pole vault meeting at the Olympic Sports Complex of Paiania, just outside Athens, Washington alum Scott Toney (Paul Merca photo) finished ninth against an international field Saturday night.
Toney, who cleared 18-4.5 (5.60m) at the UW Invitational last week, cleared a best of 17-10.5 (5.45m) on his second attempt.
He started his day with a second attempt clearance of 17-4.5 (5.30m), before clearing his day's best.
Meet organizer, last year's world championships silver medalist, and Olympic bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis, took the victory in front of his home fans with a best of 19-4.25 (5.90m).
Chris Nilsen was the top American, finishing second with a best of 19-0.25 (5.80m).
Toney moves on to Paris for next Saturday's Perche aux Étoiles pole vault meet.
On the final day of the Riverfront Invitational and Multis at The Podium in Spokane, Emmanuel "Ray Ray" Wells cruised to victory in the men's 60 meter dash.
Wells ran 6.59 in the qualifying round, then chalked up an identical number in the finals to win going away, with Central Washington's Colton Magruder the closest at 6.75.
For Wells, the 6.59 mark earned him automatic qualification into the USA indoor championships at the end of the month in Staten Island, New York. It also earned him the standard to qualify for the world indoor championships in Kujawy Pomorze, Poland in March, assuming he finishes in the top two at the national championships.
Central Washington alum E'Lexis Hollis won the women's 60 dash, running 7.30, just 1/100th off of her personal best set two years ago at The Podium.
Hollis is under the minimum standard of 7.35 for the USA championships, but will have to run 7.20 or faster to earn the auto standard.
Central Washington's women's 4 x 400 relay team of Ashlyn Nielsen, Donna Marie Harris, Carley Huber and Elise Hopper won in a time of 3:46.37, which puts the Wildcats at number 10 on the D2 descending order list, and could set the stage for a big face-off against Western Washington at the GNAC championships at The Podium in ten days.
In other events, Logan Schwartz of Gonzaga won the men's mile in 4:03.54, while teammate Anna Grabowski won the women's mile in 4:46.04.
In Reno, Bec Bennett of Western Washington was third overall in the women's 400 at the Nevada Wolf Pack Classic in what could be a potential showdown with Simon Fraser's Emma Cannan.
In the first of two sections, Bennett finished second behind Annalies Kalma of Nevada 52.31 to 53.47.
The second section saw Cannan run to an NCAA Division II leading time of 52.48.
Bennett's mark puts her third on the NCAA D2 descending order list, pending the results of other meets this weekend.
Western teammate Kennedy Cook, who was fifth in the first heat, ran 55.36 to put her at number 18 for the time being on the NCAA D2 descending order list.
For the second week in a row, the Vikings broke their school record in the women's 4 x 400 relay, clocking 3:42.58, to finish behind San Diego State's 3:37.75, and host Nevada's 3:38.24.
The Vikings used the same order that they did when they ran 3:44.63 of freshman Casie Kleine (57.99), freshman Jayda Darroch (56.01), junior Cook (55.13) and senior Bennett (53.49).
Western's time moves them up to second on the D2 descending order list for the time being, with other meets around the country still in progress.
Like the women's squad, the Viking men scored a school record with the team of senior Lucas Brenek, sophomore Evin Ford, junior Maurice Woodring, and freshman Jackson Moffitt.
The team ran 3:11.38, with Brenek running 47.98, Ford 48.29, Woodring 48.12, and Moffitt 47.01 to get the overall win.
Western ran 3:11.92 at the UW Preview three weeks ago with a different squad composition. The mark puts the Vikings in the number 10 position.
NOTE: European Athletics, The Podium, and the sports information offices of Western Washington and Gonzaga contributed to this report.
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