Puyallup's Gero-Holt, UW's Rhoads, and Yelm's Nubbe earn top-3 finishes at NCAA D1s...
Gero-Holt started her day, running 8.58 in the 60 meter hurdles to finish tenth in the field.
After that, the graduate of Emerald Ridge HS rattled off two straight event wins, taking the high jump at 6-0.5 (1.84m), and the shot put at 46-4 (14.12m) to lead after three events with 2831 points to Liisa-Maria Lusti of Oregon's 2631 points.
Lusti moved into the lead after winning the long jump with a personal best mark of 21-9 (6.63m), while Gero-Holt jumped 19-6 (5.94m) to hold a 3680-3662 lead going into the 800.
In the 800, Gero-Holt ran with Lusti, and was pulled to a personal best 2:21.46, while Lusti ran 2:20.38.
Lusti hung on to take the victory with a final score of 4498 to Gero-Holt's 4466, which is a personal best.
Using a different combination of Jenica Swartz, Chloe Symon, Chloe Foerster, and Julia David-Smith, the Huskies finished tenth in the distance medley relay, after being in contention for most of the race.
The Huskies ran 10:54.37, as Oregon won in 10:48.76.
Swartz opened with a 1200 leg of 3:20.76, while Symon ran 54.08 on the 400 leg.
Foerster dropped down to the 800 leg and ran 2:04.19 to put Washington into third going into the final leg.
Julia David-Smith hung tough for seven of the eight laps of the 1600 leg, but had several teams pass her over the last 400, as she ran 4:35.35 on her leg.
Washington's Chloe Thomas finished 15th in the 5000 meters, running 16:04.58, as collegiate record holder Jane Hedengren won in 15:00.12.
In qualifying, Washington State's Rosemary Longisa won her heat of the mile, running 4:28.09 and clocking the fastest time of the day.
Washington's Mia Cochran was seventh in that heat, running 4:33.25.
In the previous heat, the Huskies' Chloe Foerster was fifth, running 4:40.31, one spot away from an automatic qualifier to Saturday's final.
MEN'S RECAP...
Yelm native Jeremiah Nubbe of the University of Virginia (Virginia Athletics file photo), who was fourth at last year's meet, threw a personal best 79-8.25 (24.29m) to finish second in the weight throw.
After fouling on his first attempt, Nubbe got on the board with a second round throw of 76-6.25 (23.32m) to move into second. He then popped his personal best of 79-8.25 (24.29m) in round 5, and followed it up with a throw of 79-5.25 (24.21m) in the sixth round.
Iowa's Ryan Johnson took the victory with a toss of 84-1.5 (25.64m) in round 5, after leading from wire to wire.
Washington's Jimmy Rhoads, the collegiate leader through the season, finished third in the finals of the men's pole vault.
Rhoads started clean through the first two bars, then had a miss at the third height of 18-4.5 (5.60m) before clearing on his second attempt.
He passed at 18-6.5 (5.65m), before clearing two straight heights on his first attempt: 18-8.25 (5.70m) and 18-10.25 (5.75m) to join Kansas' Ashtor Barkdull and Texas A&M's Aleksandr Solovev as the final three remaining.
Rhoads bowed out with three misses at 19-0.25 (5.80m), while Barkdull and Solovev made on their second and third attempts, respectively.
Barkdull's second attempt make was the difference between winning and finishing second.
If there's any consolation to Rhoads' finish, it's the highest clearance in NCAA championship meet history by a third-place finisher.
Washington's distance medley relay team of Jamar Distel, Alex Rhodes, Josiah Tostenson, and Tyler Bilyard finished fifth, running 9:25.43, after seemingly being out of contention on the 1600 anchor leg.
Jamar Distel, who ran the opening leg at the B1G Tens, opened, running 2:53.86 on the 1200 leg before passing to Alex Rhodes, who ran 44.96 on the 400 leg.
Freshman Josiah Tostenson struggled on the 800 leg, as he ran 1:51.03, before handing to Tyler Bilyard on the 1600 leg.
Bilyard, who seemingly was out of contention in eighth when he received the baton, ran the second fastest 1600 leg, clocking 3:55.59 to get the Huskies into fifth, as Northern Arizona won in 9:19.95.
Washington's Evan Jenkins finished 13th in the men's 5000 meters, running 13:55.96.
New Mexico's Habtom Samuel held off a final charge by Villanova's Marco Langon to win the race in 13:36.58.
Both of Washington's entries in the mile advanced to Saturday's final. In heat one, the Huskies' Thomas Diamond cruised to a comfortable second place finish, running 3:55.38.
Former Arkansas Razorback Reuben Reina Jr returned to his old track and finished third in his heat to earn one of the four automatic qualifying marks, running 3:57.27.
Former Washington State standout Mason Lawyer, now competing for the University of Arizona, finished fourth in his heat of the 60 meter dash qualifying, running 6.57 (6.564) to gain the final spot in Saturday's finals.
Bellingham native Andre Korbmacher of Florida State finished sixth in his heat of the 60 hurdles, running 7.61, and didn't advance.
ON TAP SATURDAY...
Saturday, Puyallup native JaiCieonna Gero-Holt, who finished second in the pentathlon, competes in the finals of the women's high jump at 11:45 am Pacific time.
Washington's Hana Moll, the world leader in the event, and Veronica Vacca go in the finals of the women's pole vault at 2:00 pm Pacific time in the Huskies' only scoring opportunity Saturday.
Washington State's Rosemary Longisa, who ran the fastest time of the day, runs in the finals of the women's mile at 2:10 pm.
The Huskies' Diamond and Reina go in the finals of the mile at 2:20 pm. Twenty minutes later, ex Cougar Mason Lawyer runs in the finals of the men's 60.
Reina returns to run in the finals of the 3000 at 4:25 pm.
To wrap up the NCAA indoor championships, Carnation native Braelyn Baker of Duke is on the Blue Devils' 4 x 400 relay pool at 4:40 pm Pacific, while Bellingham's Jacob Andrews of USC and Seattle's Will Floyd of Georgia are on their teams' 4 x 400 relay pool at 4:55 pm Pacific.
ESPN Plus ($) will stream day 2 of the meet live, while a replay of the meet will be shown on ESPNU on Sunday, at 7 pm Eastern/4 pm Pacific.
NTEKPERE FINISHES THIRD IN D2 HIGH JUMP...
In Virginia Beach, Central Washington's Emy Ntekpere (CWU Athletics file photo) moved up three positions from her sixth place finish in 2025 to take third in the high jump to open competition at the NCAA Division II indoor championships at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.
After clearing the first three bars, Ntekpere missed for the first time at the fourth bar of 5-9.25 (1.76m) before clearing on her second.
She also needed a second attempt to clear 5-10.5 (1.79m) to be one of three remaining at the next height of 5-11.5 (1.82m).
All three remaining jumpers--Jazmine Williamson of Pittsburg State and Shannon Harnett of East Stroudsburg missed their three attempts.
As Williamson and Harnett were even on misses through 5-10.5 (1.79m), the two went to a jump off, with Williamson winning by clearing 5-10.75 (1.80m) after starting the jump off at 5-11.5 (1.82m).
Western Washington's Kora Cook was 18th at 5-4.25 (1.63m).
In qualifying, Western Washington's Bec Bennett and Emmy Kroontje both advanced into Saturday's finals.
Bennett finished second in her heat of the 400 meters, running 53.73.
Kroontje finished third in her heat of the 800 meters, running 2:08.67 to be one of two time qualifiers into Saturday's final.
Elise Hopper of Central Washington was second in her heat of the 200 meters, running 24.00, but did not advance.
Seattle Pacific's Hannah Chang was fifth in her heat of the 60 meter hurdles, running 8.77.
Central Washington's Colton Magruder was sixth in his heat of the 60 meter dash, running 6.76.
Wildcat teammate Drew Klein stands 13th after the first four events in the heptathlon, scoring 2784 points.
He started the day, running 7.17 in the 60 meter dash, then long jumped 21-11 (6.68m).
Klein threw 39-2.5 (11.95m) in the shot put, then finished the day by clearing 5-10.5 (1.79m) in the high jump.
Ntekpere returns Saturday to defend her triple jump title.
In addition, Western Washington's Jessica Polkinghorn will throw in the finals of the women's shot put.
Bennett and Kroontje return to run in the finals of the 400 and 800 meters. Bennett and teammates Casie Kliene, Jayda Darroch, and Kennedy Cook will run in the final event of the day, the 4 x 400 meter relay.
NCAA.com will stream day 2 of the NCAA D2 championships starting at 7:00 am Pacific.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and the sports information offices of the University of Illinois, University of Virginia, University of Washington, Washington State University, Central Washington University, and Western Washington University contributed to this report.
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