Roundup: National champions and a No. 1 draft pick

Add a couple of more Pac-12ers to the list of NCAA individual champions. Over at the NCAA track and field championships in Eugene,  Lawi Lalang won the 10,000 meters by more than 11 seconds, and it was just his third time ever running the 10K. Not too shabby. 

Fear not, Fork lovers, it wasn't only the 'Cats who earned an individual 'ship yesterday. Arizona State's Anna Jelmini won the discus title for her first national championship and the second individual championship for ASU women's throwers (Chelsea Cassulo did the deed Wednesday in the hammer throw). 

Let's take a break from historic Hayward Field to let you know that Stanford pitcher Mark Appel was drafted first overall by the Houston Astros. Many criticized him for not taking $3.8 million to sign as the No. 8 pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates last year, but he ended up with his degree and a slot assignment that's about $4 million more than he would have received last year. Who's laughing now? Here's David Lombardi's take for the Pac-12 Post for good measure.

Back to the track, Jeremy Taiwo finished second in the decathlon, but he did set a PR with 8,239 points, good enough for eighth-best in NCAA history. In other news, Adam Jude will now cover the Washington football team for the Seattle Times, replacing the venerable Bob Condotta (still with the Seattle Times, now covering the Seahwaks). Jude has been linked here many a time as a reporter for The Oregonian.

Colorado's Emma Coburn easily advanced to the 3,000-meter steeplechase finals with the fastest time by more than nine seconds. As Brian Howell of the Daily Camera puts it, Coburn has been boosted by the fellow Olympians she trains with -- Jenny Barringer Simpson and teammate Shalaya Kipp, both of whom competed in the steeplechase in London.  

Today, USC's Reggie Wyatt hopes to become the first Trojan to win a hurdles title since 2000. He will be racing for the 400 hurdles belt at 4:40 p.m. this afternoon after posting the fastest semifinal time of 49.23 seconds on Wednesday.    

Hey, don't forget -- the NCAA super regionals are this weekend for baseball, and UCLA's series with Cal State Fullerton gets started tonight. In a series that should have a lot of pitching and defense, the UCLA bullpen has a firm grip on things. If the Bruins can hand the baseball over to closer David Berg with a lead going into the Fullerton half of the ninth, things would be pretty safe for UCLA -- his 20 saves are three off the NCAA record.

Oregon State and Kansas State get underway Saturday, and Kansas State hopes to keep its historic run alive against the Beavers. This is K-State's first trip to the super regional (it's not Oregon State's first rodeo, not by a long shot).    

This shouldn't be pushed so far toward the bottom, but Cal is sending three golfers to the 2013 U.S. Open-- Max Homa, Michael Weaver and Michael Kim. Props to our Ashley Atwell for the article previously linked. ESPN also gave the Bears' golfers some pub.  

Former Ute big man Jason Washburn participated in a pre-draft workout for the Utah Jazz. Dude had a very nice senior year for Krystkowiak and Co. in 2012-13.    

This should be a fun one: The Oregon men's basketball team will play Georgetown in the Armed Forces Classic on Nov. 8. High-RPI non-conference matchups FTW.    

Three men's hoops links in a row to finish things off, because Rod Jensen was hired to the Washington State hoops staff as the team's new director of player development. Jensen has been a head coach at Boise State and The College of Idaho and replaces Jeff Hironaka, who left to take an assistant gig at Portland State.