Longisa roars to 2:00.27 Friday night at Stanford to set new WSU school record...
STANFORD--Washington State's Rosemary Longisa (Paul Merca file photo), competing in her outdoor season debut over 800 meters, ran away to victory to highlight competition at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Cobb Track and Angell Field, hosted by Stanford University Friday night.
With Stanford's Hillary Studdert as the pacesetter, Longisa and Great Britain's Ellie Baker, who spends part of her overseas training stints in Seattle, went with Studdert, going through 400 in 59.36, with Longisa and Baker a few steps behind.
Longisa, who competed at the world indoor championships in March at 800 meters for Kenya the week after the NCAA championships, ran away with the win, clocking 2:00.27, currently the fifth fastest collegiate time so far this season, pending the outcome of other meets around the country this weekend.
Baker finished fifth in 2:03.30, while Washington alum Claire Yerby was fifth in 2:05.96.
Longisa's mark is a new school record for the sophomore, eclipsing Celestine N'Drin's time of 2:02.99 set more than 35 years ago. Longisa now holds the school record in the indoor 800m, outdoor 800m, indoor Mile, and outdoor 1500m.
Fellow Coug Evans Kurui dropped down in distance for the second straight week, winning the second section of the men's 1500 in 3:42.34.
In the women's 5000, Gonzaga school record holder Rosina Machu finished seventh in 15:42.01. She towed teammate Logan Hofstee to an eighth place finish in 15:42.84, which makes Hofstee the second fastest performer in school history.
Washington State's Solomon Kipchoge, who was entered in both the 5000 and 10000, but had been working through some "physical issues" over the last few weeks, did not start either race.
In Corvallis, Washington's Jamar Distel dropped down in distance to the 1500 and for 1200 meters, appeared that he was going to steal the race from the field at day 1 of the OSU High Performance Meet, hosted by Oregon State University at the Whyte Track & Field Complex.
Running in the top section, Distel took the lead after pacemaker Cruize Corvin of the Huskies dropped off just before the kilometer mark.
North Dakota State's Ethan Moe got the win in 3:46.42, with the Huskies' Nathan Neil second in 3:48.30, and Distel third in 3:49.09.
Washington only sent a small group to Corvallis, opting to rest most of their top people from their distance group.
The meet continues Saturday with a contingent from Eastern Washington and SeattleU competing.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Gonzaga, and Washington State, contributed to this report.
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