Dawgs finish Penn Relays trip; Zags set DMR school record at Drake, while CJ Allen wins season opener...
PHILADELPHIA--The Washington Huskies concluded their trip to the Penn Relays with a sixth place finish in the men's 4 x Mile (photo of Reuben Reina & Martin Barco courtesy UW Athletics), and a fourth place finish in the women's 4 x 800 meter relay Saturday.
Similar to the finish of Friday's men's distance medley, the 4 x mile turned into a tactical race.
The fastest time on the opening leg was 4:13.39 by Northern Arizona, and the fastest second leg was 4:08.23 by Wisconsin.
Josiah Tostenson (4:15.81) led off and passed to Tyler Bilyard (4:10.99), then Reuben Reina (4:03.99), and Martin Barco (4:18.09) anchored. Reina moved UW up into sixth position, which was where they finished in an overall time of 16:48.86.
Villanova got revenge on Oregon from yesterday's DMR, winning 16:18.47 to 16:18.52, with the Wildcats' Marco Langon getting the best of the Ducks' Simeon Birnbaum.
The Husky women were entered in both the 4 x 800 and the 4 x 1500, but scratched the 4 x 1500 to concentrate on the 4 x 8.
Chloe Symon led off and held the lead at the first exchange with a 2:08.51, then Jenica Swartz ran 2:05.51 and kept UW at the front. Mia Cochran ran 2:07.58 on the third leg and passed to Chloe Foerster who split 2:05.10 to bring the Huskies home in fourth overall behind Penn State (8:18.43) , Stanford (8:20.60), and North Carolina (8:22.09).
Washington's final time was 8:26.70.
DRAKE RELAYS RECAP
In Des Moines, the Gonzaga women's distance medley relay team of Anna Grabowski, Greta Dani, Ashlinn Aguayo, and Logan Hofstee finished third in the University Division DMR at the Drake Relays Saturday behind Oklahoma State and Oregon State, setting a new school record, running 11:07.97.
The splits for the squad were 3:24.42 for Grabowski, 55.25 for Dani, 2:08.17 for Aguayo, and 4:40.14 for Hofstee.
Oklahoma State clocked 10:54.94, ahead of Oregon State's 11:04.04 and Gonzaga's 11:07.97.
The men's DMR team came within half a second of setting another program record, running a team time of 9:45.14. Ryan Mitchell, Charlie Goss, Hayden Roberts, and Logan Schwartz combined with times of 2:59.68, 49.81, 1:52.76, and 4:02.91 to finish in fifth in the relay.
Iowa State took the win in 9:40.73.
In the World Athletics Continental Tour 1500, Waleed Suliman (Lance Jording photo) of the Brooks Beasts took the lead with one lap to go, but finished third.
Suliman ran 3:36.54, as Cooper Cawthra won in 3:35.22.
Washington alums Joe Waskom and Sam Ellis were seventh and eighth in 3:38.44 and 3:39.86.
Washington State alum CJ Allen opened up his season, winning the men's 400 hurdles in 48.94.
Former Pullman resident Katie Moon was a late scratch in the invitational pole vault, after finishing second in Monday's Vault at Jordan Creek.
Washington alum Claire Yerby finished ninth in the women's invitational mile, running 4:34.20. Annika Reiss won in 4:25.52.
IN STATE MEET RECAPS...
Saturday in Bellingham, host Western Washington earned 13 wins, while Seattle Pacific took three wins at the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational at Civic Stadium.
Western Washington's Bec Bennett (#4/Paul Merca photo) improved upon her season best, winning the women's 400 in 53.25.
Bennett's previous season best was 53.44, set last week at the Mt. SAC Relays.
The Vikings' Ari Nguyen finished second in the women's 400 hurdles, running 60.38, as Canada's Georgia Ellenwood won in 59.25.
Maurice Woodring was an easy winner in the men's 400 hurdles, running 52.06.
Seattle Pacific's Hannah Chang, who ran 14.03 in Friday's Pee Wee Halsell Invitational at Civic Stadium, won the 100 hurdles in 14.30.
In Friday's Pee Wee Halsell Invitational, Western's Calvin Gutierrez set four personal bests en route to breaking the school and GNAC record in the hammer, throwing 210-1 (64.03m).
The mark puts Gutierrez in at number 9 on the NCAA D2 descending order list.
In Friday's Cougar Classic at Mooberry Track on the campus of Washington State University, Central Washington used the meet as a final tune up to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet that they will host starting on May 4th.
The Wildcats on the day took eight events on the day, while Eastern Washington won four events, and host Washington State two.
All American Evans Kurui won the Henry Rono Memorial Mile in 4:03.88 in an attempt to run the first sub-4 minute mile outdoors at WSU.
Kurui took the win in 4:03.88, with teammate Vincent Koech second in 4:08.49.
The best marks of the meet came in the women's 200, won by Elise Hopper of Central Washington in 23.76. Hopper also had a hand in their winning 4 x 400 relay, as the Wildcats ran a school record 3:41.54, which is currently in the top ten nationally.
Ellie DeGroot of Central won the women's 400 hurdles in 60.56, and also had a hand on their school record 4 x 400, running the opening leg, then handing to Carley Huber, who passed to Donna Marie Harris, with Hopper running the anchor.
Before the meet, the bronze statue of Washington State distance running legend Henry Rono was dedicated near the entrance of Mooberry Track. Rono won numerous NCAA titles, and in 1978, set four world records in the 5000, 3000 steeplechase, 10000 and 3000 over a span of 81 days.
Rono is acknowledged as the greatest track and field athlete ever produced by Washington State University.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Washington, Gonzaga, Drake, Washington State, and Western Washington contributed to this report.
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