Cougs Dominate Across Three Meets This Weekend
PULLMAN, Wash.— The Washington State men's and women's track and field teams had another successful weekend, as the Cougars won a total of nine events and set multiple top-10 program marks at three different meets across the country.
Washington State once again split up its team to compete at three different meets over the weekend. The Cougars had student-athletes participate at the Husky Classic in Seattle, the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the Whitworth Invitational at the Podium in Spokane.
Head Coach Wayne Phipps on this Weekend's Success
"We had an awesome trio of meets, featuring a huge number of personal bests, event wins, WSU all-time marks, and national marks. It's very exciting to see the improvement from week to week with this team."
Husky Classic
The Cougars showed off at the Dempsey Indoor Facility on Friday, Feb. 11, as the Cougars won the 60m hurdles and had four student-athletes set a top-10 all-time program mark at the Husky Classic.
Graduate students Sam Brixey and Nick Johnson once again dominated the 60m hurdle event, as the WSU hurdlers each posted a top-three finish in Seattle. Brixey recorded a time of 7.71 to win the event. He was .01 seconds behind his personal record. Johnson's time of 7.81 was good for third place, while it is the 20th fastest mark in the NCAA this season.
Graduate student Colton Johnsen recorded the second fastest 3000m indoor time in WSU history. His time of 7:45.80 placed him fourth in the event at the Husky Classic. His mark is also the seventh-fastest 3,000m time in WSU history. Johnsen currently holds the eighth-fastest 3,000m time in the NCAA this season.
Sophomore Neema Kimtai set two top-10 all-time WSU marks on Saturday in Seattle in the women's mile and women's 3,000m. The sophomore ran the mile in 4:45.43, which is now the fourth-fastest in-door time in the event in WSU history, to place 35th on the 93-runner event. Kimtai also posted the fifth-fasted 3,000m indoor time in program history with a time of 9:31.47 to place 24th in the 78-runner event. Today's 3,000m time ran by Kimtai is the ninth-fastest time ever recorded indoor or outdoor in program history in the event.
Graduate student Zach Stallings set a new personal record in the men's mile at the Husky Classic, finishing third overall with a time of 3:57.00. His time is also the third-fastest in WSU history and is the 24th-fastest time in the NCAA this season.
Freshman Micaela De Mello also set a top-five all-time WSU indoor mark in Seattle on Saturday, as she recorded a time of 8.34 in the 60m hurdles to place third in the event. De Mello's time is the fifth fastest 60m indoor time hurdle is WSU history.
Don Kirby Elite Invitational
Graduated student Mitch Jacobson grabbed another first-place finish in the high jump, while senior Jacob Englar set a new personal record in the high jump to highlight the day for Washington State at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Jacobson took first place in the high jump at the Don Kirby Elite with a leap of 2.15m. Jacobson's leap on Saturday ties his season-best mark in the event. The graduate student has finished in the top-two in the high jump at every meet he has competed at this season.
Englar cleared 5.28m in the pole vault to set a new personal record in the event. His leap was good enough to finish sixth overall in Albuquerque and it is the 25th-best jump in the NCAA this season. Englar's mark of 5.28m is now the fifth-highest clearance in the pole vault in WSU indoor history.
Whitworth Invitational
Most of the Cougars went back up to Spokane this weekend to compete in the Whitworth Invitational at the Podium. Washington State dominated the field up in the Lilac City, as the Cougars won five events and recorded a total of 10 top-three finishes in the meet.
Washington State had six student-athletes and one relay team win a total of four field events and three track events at the Whitworth Invitational. In total, the women's team had six top-three finishes in Spokane, while the men's track and field team posted four top-three finishes.
In the field events, junior Daylon Hicks got things started for WSU in the men's high jump, as he cleared a season-best 2.01m to win the high jump to win the event.
Junior Skyler Walton recorded two top-three finishes on Saturday. She took first place in the 60m dash with a season-best time of 7.55, then placed second in the 200m dash with a time of 24.96.
Junior Mackenzie Fletcher brought home a first-place finish in the 60m hurdles at the Whitworth Invitational, as she won the event with a season-best time of 8.76.
Freshman Kolby Weiss collected her first win of her WSU career, as she cleared 3.82m in the women's pole vault to win the event in Spokane. Weiss' clearance on Saturday sets a new personal record in the event.
Sophomore Audrey Hughes and freshman Alexandra Payne each won a throwing event at the Whitworth Invitational. Hughes' toss of 14.27m took first in the shot put, while Payne's throw of 17.35m won the weight throw. Hughes throw on Saturday is also a new personal-best in the shot put.
The women's 4x400m relay team of Mackenzie Fletcher, Jasneet Nijjar, Elise Unruh-Thomas and Elena Willems finished first in the relay with time of 3:45.57.
Next Up
Washington State will once again be competing in three meets next weekend. The Cougars will be participating in the Arkansas Qualifier in Fayetteville, Ark. and the Jarvis Scott Open in Lubbock, Texas on Feb. 18, and the JDL DMR Invitational in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Feb. 18-19. Check back with WSUCougars.com for more information on all three of next weekend's meets.
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