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Waskom Powers To NCAA Title In 1,500-Meters

by gohuskies.com
Jun 10, 2022

NCAA Outdoor Championships
June 8-11 | Eugene, Ore. | Hayward Field

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Schedule of Husky Athletes at NCAAs (all times Pacific)
 
Saturday, June 11
Women's Events
10:30 am – Heptathlon Long Jump – Ida Eikeng
11:45 am – Heptathlon Javelin – Ida Eikeng
2:05 pm – Discus – Beatrice Asomaning
4:13 pm – Heptathlon 800m – Ida Eikeng

EUGENE, Ore. – Joe Waskom put his name into the history books for Husky Track and Field today, as the Snoqualmie, Wash. product captured the NCAA 1,500-meter title at Hayward Field. Waskom led three Dawgs who all finished in the top-seven as the Huskies earned five podium finishes today to power the men's team to a 12th-place finish, the best since 1979.
 
Waskom, who won the Pac-12 1,500-meter title on the same track just last month, used a similar strategy today where he kicked hard early and made it stand up. A slow pace through the first couple laps made it so several men had a lot left at the finish but none could track down Waskom, the third-year sophomore. He won in a time of 3:45.58.
 
"I wasn't even here at this meet last year," Waskom first said while being interviewed on the track after his win. "I was running the steeplechase. Things weren't going too well at the beginning of the season, so I had a talk with my coach (Andy Powell) and decided we'd move down to the 15. I just started finding my groove again, and got really confident. I've been closing all my races really good … I really, really wanted this one."
 
Close behind Waskom was Woodinville, Wash. native Luke Houser, who placed fifth overall in 3:46.13. And then freshman Nathan Green took seventh in 3:46.26, as the Huskies piled up sixteen team points in the single race. Green, the Boise, Idaho native, becomes the first UW true freshman to score at NCAAs in a running event since Ja'Warren Hooker in the 100-meters in 1998.
 
"I knew if I went with three-hundred (meters) to go that I'd at least get to the lead. I didn't know if I'd hold it. I did everything I could today, with the help of these boys (Green and Houser). These boys are why I won today. I believe in them, they believe in me. There's a reason there's three of us out here today."
 
"There's a program being built here by our coaches Andy and Chris, and we believe in them more than we believe in ourselves probably. And we knew they'd get us here today to be ready to win."
 
Waskom became the first men's NCAA Outdoor Champion for the Huskies since Scott Roth won the 2011 pole vault title. He's the first UW man to win a running event at NCAA Outdoors since Ryan Brown took the 2006 800-meter title. The last Husky male or female to win on the track outdoor was Katie Flood, who won the 1,500-meter title in 2012, exactly ten years and one day ago.
 
Going even farther back, Waskom is the first Husky man to win the 1,500/mile title outdoors since 1928, when Rufus Kiser won the mile in a time of 4:17.6.
 
Head Coach Andy Powell talked about the importance of having three men racing in the final.
 
"Super powerful to have three guys, which is rare. They worked together to basically maximize those points," said Powell.

 
Coming off a stellar indoor season, Waskom's first few outdoor races were a struggle. Powell said the key to turning it around were his teammates once again. "Everyone at practice having a positive attitude. They were doing well and they helped him through a rough patch," said Powell "We had the three guys that made the final, but there's all the other guys that made it a good group."
 
After the 1,500-meter brilliance, the Huskies kept tacking on points two at a time. Elijah Mason became a three-time First Team All-American as he placed seventh in the discus final, coming up big with a season-best launch of 195-feet, 6-inches. Mason

 
"Our throws group is one of the best in the country," said Powell. "Elijah, Jayden, Roan, all great jobs. Today was awesome."
 
Brian Fay got the Huskies to the 20-point plateau, for the first time since 1983, as he took seventh in the 5,000-meters final. Fay was 12th with two laps to go but closed hard to get up into scoring position and earn his third All-America honor of the 2021-22 year. He ran 13:31.39.
 
With the 20 team points, the men tied for 12th overall, the highest finish for the Washington men's program at NCAA Outdoors since 1979, when the team tied for fifth.
 
It was all men's events today, with the exception of day one of the women's heptathlon, which Ida Eikeng completed with flying colors. Eikeng set herself up well for Saturday's final three events, as she sits in third-place overall with 3,640 points.
 
Eikeng started with a season-best in the 100m hurdles, going 13.54, and then she matched her PR in the high jump, making 5-7 ¾ with a clutch third-attempt make. Eikeng went 42-2 ¼ in the shot put, and then closed with a major personal-best 200-meter sprint. She went 23.81, the fifth-fastest time in school history, to keep herself in the top three. Eikeng is looking to improve on her fifth-place finish last year, when she shattered the school record.

 
Eikeng will start her final three events tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. with the long jump. She'll then throw javelin at 11:45 a.m. and run the final 800-meters at 4:13 p.m. The other last Dawg to go tomorrow will be Beatrice Asomaning, making her NCAA debut in the discus at 2:05 p.m.
 

NCAA Outdoor Championships
Eugene, Ore. | Hayward Field
June 10, 2022 | Day 3 of 4 (Men's Competition)
 
Washington Results
 
Men's 1,500m Final: 1. Joe Waskom, 3:45.58 (NCAA Champion; All-America First Team); 5. Luke Houser, 3:46.13 (All-America First Team); 7. Nathan Green, 3:46.26 (All-America First Team)
 
Men's 5,000m Final: 7. Brian Fay, 13:31.39 (All-America First Team)
 
Men's Discus: 7. Elijah Mason, 195-6 (All-America First Team)
 
Women's Heptathlon Day One (Friday)
100m Hurdles: 7. Ida Eikeng, 13.54 | 1044 points
High Jump: tie-6. Ida Eikeng, 5-7 ¾ | 879 points
Shot Put: 4. Ida Eikeng, 42-2 ¼ | 718 points
200m: 3. Ida Eikeng, 23.81 | 999 points
First Day Standings: 3. Ida Eikeng, 3640 points
 

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