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Kelby Breaks 1988 Shot Put School Record

by gohuskies.com
Apr 30, 2022

SEATTLE – The 34-year-old Washington women's shot put record was finally retired today at the Fresno State Invitational, as junior MaKayla Kelby took over the top spot in the Husky record books with a launch of 55-feet, 10.50-inches.
 
Already the school record-holder in the indoor shot put, Kelby finally tracked down the longer outdoor mark of 55-7, set back in 1988 by Jennifer Ponath, who would win the NCAA Championship that year. Kelby came in with an outdoor best of 54-5 ½, set just last week in Pullman, but her indoor record of 55-3 ½ was closer to what she'd need outdoors.
 
She opened with a great toss of 54-7 ¼ then had a couple 53-foot marks and a foul before putting it all together in round five and setting the mark. Kelby's sixth attempt was another great toss of 55-0 ¾. She'll move to 14th in the West this season.
 

 
Kelby also had a lifetime-best in the discus today. Kelby and Beatrice Asomaning both improved their lifetime-best marks that already ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in UW history. Kelby had her second 185-foot throw of the season, going 185-4, while Asomaning had a PR for the second week in a row, going 183-6. They now rank 12th and 13th, respectively, in the West this year.
 
The sprinters continued to pick up speed, with multiple PRs and three new Top-10 marks. In the women's 100-meter dash, Aaliyah Wilson and Olivia Ribera both registered career-bests. Wilson ran 11.61 to dip under her old best by .01 seconds, while Ribera set a 100m PR for the second meet in a row, going 11.67. The pair now rank sixth and seventh all-time at UW.
 
In the men's 400-meter hurdles, sophomore Jonathan Birchman and freshman Matthew Wilkinson produced a 1-2 finish, both running personal bests. Birchman took three-quarters of a second off his PR, getting down to 51.02 seconds and jumping in to the No. 7 spot in school history. Wilkinson ran a 51.62 time which is now just off the top-10 list, at the No. 11 spot, but in the West Region this season, Birchman now ranks 15th and Wilkinson is up to 33rd.
 
Another first- and second-place sweep for the men came in the javelin, where Roan Allen took another victory throwing 217-2, and Zach Annanie got himself a new PR of 215-8. For the women, sophomore Kathleen Horn was fifth in the javelin at 149-11, and sophomore Natalie Holmer was seventh at 144-6.
 
Sam Van Peursem took a big win in the men's shot put, giving the Dawgs a shot put title sweep in Fresno. Van Peursem went 59-5 ¾ on his second attempt, moving him safely up into West Prelims qualifying position, at No. 30 currently.
 

 
In the men's discus, Elijah Mason continued to round into postseason form as he extended his season-best once again, going 194-2 to win the event by over seven feet. Nolan Such threw 154-1.

The evening saw a group of Husky long and mid-distance runners get to make their marks, tuning up for the postseason. The night's biggest run came from Carley Thomas, who got the win in the 800-meters and ran the top time in the Pac-12 this season at 2:04.49. Sophie O'Sullivan crossed in 2:07.59, half a second off her season-best.
 
In the 1,500-meters invite, Anna Gibson led four Dawgs with her third sub-4:16 time this season. She ran 4:14.92 to take third. All-American Madison Heisterman had a season-best 4:17.04, and Julia David-Smith and Sophie Cantine came through together in 4:21.18 and 4:21.28. For the men, Ryan Renken clocked a 3:46.32.
 
In the women's 5k, Camila David-Smith took second and knocked seven seconds off her PR, running 16:25.00. Naomi Smith was a couple seconds back in 16:28.51, and Andrea Markezich finished in 16:41.88.
 
The Husky multi-eventers got more work in a few events apiece. Ida Eikeng took third overall in the 100m hurdles in 13.75 and high jumped 5-5 today, then threw 41-4 ¼ in the shot put. Ollie Thorner ran a 100m season-best of 10.97 seconds while Jamie Schlueter ran 11.18. Thorner then had a long jump best of 22-4 ½, and Schlueter went 22-1 ¾. Schlueter had a shot put PR of 42-9 and Thorner threw an even 42-feet. Thorner then had a new PR in the discus, going 141-1.
 
Also jumping today was senior Jelani Heath, with a mark of 19-1 ½, and freshman Tim Luebbert, who went 47-1 ½ in the triple and 21-10 ¾ in the long.
 
Delaney Ezeji-Okoye led the women's vaulters with a season-best clearance of 12-11 ½. Makenna Barton and Ashleigh Helms both made 12-5 ½. Current UW volunteer coach and NCAA record-holder Olivia Gruver had an impressive winning make of 15-5 ½.

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