Throwers, Mills And Body Stand Out At Jim Click
TUCSON, Ariz. – After training through the past week's competitions, the Husky throwers got back in the ring and on the runway today in Tucson, and continued their collective stellar season, highlighting Washington's day at the Jim Click Shootout. Husky athletes posted seven new marks for the Top-10 lists at Roy P. Drachman Stadium.
The sprints crew also saw a number of season- and personal-bests today, with Darhian Mills, Julian Body, and Olivia Ribera looking particularly sharp.
First in line for new throwing PRs were Jayden White and Connor Jost in the men's hammer.
The freshman White moved up another rung on the Husky top-10 list with a launch of 212-8 after starting with two fouls. That puts the indoor All-American up to No. 4 in school history and into the top-30 nationally. Senior Connor Jost spun himself two PRs today; with the first one he got over the 200-foot mark for the first time ever at 200-10, which was a six-foot PB. But on his last attempt he added two more feet to that, going 202-3. Jost now moves into the hammer top-10 for the first time in his career at No. 9.
Next came some huge marks in the discus, as Elijah Mason took second behind the NCAA leader today, throwing a season-best 193-10 that will keep him in the current national top-10. But it was Jonah Wilson's third-place finish that made waves as he PR'd by five feet today to throw 191-3, and move into the No. 10 spot in school history. Wilson was an NCAA Outdoor qualifier in the shot and the discus in 2019 but this was his best discus series of his career today. Both Dawgs will be in the national top-10 come Monday.
The last big highlight of the night came in the javelin, where senior Dalton Sugg broke his three-year-old PR not once, not twice, but three times tonight. After two years of injuries and a season lost to the pandemic, the persistent Sugg finally got the first breakthrough to reward all the work. His previous best was 206-7 set in April of 2018. Tonight he went 211-6 on his very first attempt. His third throw went 212-8, and then on his final throw, Sugg went 218-6, adding 12 feet to his PR in one night. Five of his six attempts went beyond his old PR.
Wilson then took second in the shot put as well, with a best of 61-9 ¾, while Sam Van Peursem was fourth at 58-9 ½.
On the women's side, redshirt freshman MaKayla Kelby also moved up the recordbooks in both the shot and the discus. She first took the No. 10 spot in school history in the discus with a best toss today of 165-5 on her second attempt. Kelby then had an outdoor personal-best in the shot put, going 51-9, and moving up another spot to No. 4 in the Husky outdoor top-10.
Ginny Mehl also had a season's-best discus throw of 161-8 and Beatrice Asomaning PR'd by five feet with her best throw of 159-5. Earlier in the day she also went 159-0 in the hammer throw.
Freshman Natalie Holmer led the women's javelin crew as she collected the day's lone PR, throwing 146-0 on her first attempt to wind up eighth overall.
Julian Body continued his impressive first outdoor season for the Dawgs as today he ran two new Top-10 times. First came a PR in the 110m hurdles, his third in a row, as he clocked a 14.02 to go to No. 5 in school history. He then took third in the 400m hurdles, in a season-best of 51.64, just .02 off his PR from his Stanford days. That time ties for ninth in the Husky annals.
School record-holder Darhian Mills made some major progress tonight as she more than secured a West Prelims qualifying time in 58.65 seconds to take third in the 400-meter hurdle finals. That time should move Mills into the national top-25 this season.
Junior Olivia Ribera got a personal milestone as she went sub-55 for the first time in the 400-meters. She took fourth overall in 54.98. Ribera also doubled back to run 24.18 in the 200-meters. Victoria Gersch also had season-bests in both, running 55.78 in the 400m and 24.52 in the 200-meters.
The only distance runner to make the trip was Mick Stanovsek, and he came home with a win, as he was the only 800-meter runner to go sub-1:50. Stanovsek crossed first in 1:49.34.
Freshman Lauren Heggen was ninth in the long jump with a mark of 18-6 and then took third in the triple jump with a best of 40-3 ½.
The Huskies will have next weekend off to prepare for the upcoming UW-WSU Dual Meet, which returns to Husky Outdoor Track on Wednesday, Apr. 21.