University of Washington
Washington State
Women's Team Gets First Win In Pullman Since 2004
April 28, 2012 | Track & Field
April 28, 2012
PULLMAN, Wash. - A complete team effort propelled the Husky women's track team to its first road win in the UW-WSU dual meet since 2004, and just the second since 1996. Late sweeps in the 400-meter hurdles and the 3,000-meter run helped lock up the 89-74 win for the Dawgs. On the men's side, the Cougars held home field, though it went down to the wire, with WSU earning the 87-76 over the Huskies. The day was filled with momentum swings, season- and career-bests, and all the intensity expected of the Apple Cup of track and field.
The Husky ladies swept the 800-meters, 1,500-meters, and the 3,000-meters, and capped things off with a 4x400-meter relay win. Dual Meet records were set in the 400-meter dash by senior Jordan Carlson and junior Shaniae Lakes in the triple jump. Carlson once again smashed her school record, the third-straight race she has broken it, this time taking off more than half a second with a time of 53.15. Lakes set a new PR with a jump of 41-4 ½ on her sixth and final attempt, tying for the No. 2 mark in school history.
A late upset victory on a sixth and final attempt by sophomore Kasen Covington in the triple jump got the men within striking distance. UW had a sweep in the men's javelin, a sweep from junior James Alaka in the 100- and 200-meters plus a win in the 4x1 relay, and big victories from sophomore Maurice McNeal and junior Joey Bywater, both returning from injury in fine form.
All told, the Huskies wrote nine new marks into the all-time Top-10 lists. Scoring at the meet breaks down as five points for first, three for second, and one for third.
Women's Recap
Four field events started the day at 11 a.m. Senior Elisa Bryant provided the first victory of the day for the Huskies, taking the women's hammer throw for the third time in her career. Bryant threw 177-4 for the win. Erica Huse added a third-place point with a toss of 147-1.
In the pole vault, junior Logan Miller won her third consecutive dual meet pole vault, as she cleared 13-1 ¾. Miller then raised the bar a foot up to what would have been a new PR at 14-1 ¼. She was over on her second attempt but hit the bar and it wobbled and eventually dropped.
In the women's long jump, junior Sarah Schireman was second with a mark of 18-4 ½. Senior Brooke Pighin also stepped up with a season-best 158-5 to take second in the javelin throw.
When the track events opened up at 1:15 p.m., freshman Eleanor Fulton made quite a splash, pardon the pun, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Running the even for the first time in her collegiate career, Fulton got the victory with a last lap push, and she posted the second-best time in school history, clocking 10:31.07 which will rank 26th in the West.
In the 4x100m relay, Haley Jacobson, Gianna Woodruff, Kayla Stueckle, and Bianca Greene clocked a season-best 45.96 though the Cougars got the win in 45.14. Still, that mark improves on their No. 9 placing in the Top-10 list.
The women took another big 8-1 event in the triple jump, as Lakes flew to a career-best 41-4 ½ on her last attempt, already leading by that point. That ties Lakes with Brittiny Roberts for second all-time, just three inches shy of the record. Taking second place was senior Taylor Nichols, jumping 39-5 ¾. In the women's discus, Bryant just missed out on her second win of the day, taking second with a mark of 144-5, just four inches away from the win.
Washington's women's distance dominance was apparent again at 1,500-meters, as WSU only put on runner against four Dawgs, who turned it into a glorified workout, going one through four. Sophomore Megan Goethals got her first of two wins on the day in 4:29.86, with Christine Babcock and Katie Flood going second and third.
The stage was then set for Carlson in the 400-meters, going against talented WSU runner Shawna Fermin. Carlson was all business, shot out of the blocks to take control of the race from the start, and she maintained all the way to the finish, hammering her own school record once again in a new lifetime-best of 53.15. That now ranks xxxx nationally and xxx in the West. Sophomore Michelle Fero had her own head-to-head, running 56.21 to beat WSU's Briauna Watley by two tenths for third place.
Another split second finish going to the Huskies was in the 100-meter dash, as freshman Haley Jacobson grabbed second place in 12.03 seconds, .01 ahead of WSU's Chanel James.
One of the biggest wins of the day came from senior Kelly McNamee in the high jump. An event the Cougars were favored in, McNamee flipped the script with a season-best clearance of 5-8 ½ for the victory. That will likely take her on to West Prelims.
At 800-meters, it was another Husky purple-wash, as the Dawgs took the top four spots with ease. This time Flood controlled things, getting the win in 2:07.95. Freshman Baylee Mires was second and redshirt frosh Chelsea Orr was third, followed by another redshirt frosh Chloe Curtis, running a PR of 2:13.61.
The women's dual really was broken open in the 400-meter hurdles, even though after the event was done, the Huskies had just a one point lead. But as heavy favorites in the 3k, the Husky distance crew just had to take care of business after Kayla Stueckle, Gianna Woodruff, and Skye Atchley went 1-2-3 in the hurdles. Stueckle led the way with a big PR of 59.37 seconds, which sends her up to No. 6 on the Top-10 list. Woodruff also had a big personal-best, clocking 1:00.81. Atchley did not have her fastest time of the year, but her final burst overtook WSU's Shaquana Logan, earning the third-place point in 1:03.18 to Logan's 1:03.27.
From there, the Huskies emptied the distance roster to ensure a top-three sweep in the 3k. Goethals returned after winning the 1,500, and she rolled to the 3k win in 9:31.91, tying for 10th on the Top-10 list. Liberty Miller and Chelsea Orr also doubled back and finished second and third. The race also saw the official Husky debut of Anna Dailey, a transfer from Stanford, who finished right with Miller and Orr in fourth-place. Kayla Evans and Megan Morgan both made their outdoor debuts as well, each finishing ahead of the two Cougars.
UW was sure of the win at this point, but still punctuated the victory with a dominant win in the 4x400m relay. Fero got the lead on the first leg, passing to Woodruff, then Stueckle, and Carlson anchoring with a sizeable lead. The Dawgs finished in 3:43.55, the No. 8 time in school history.
Men's Recap
The first race of the day was a thriller, as Michael Miller Jr. and WSU's Andrew Gonzales traded the lead in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Miller held the lead for several laps but Gonzales made a final lap pass and was able to get the win in 9:02.19, with Miller finishing in 9:03.20. Freshman Meron Simon also closed a big gap to grab third-place in 9:15.03.
Next on the track was the 4x100-meter relay, with the Huskies on the inside lane. Matt Anthony led off, passed to James Alaka, who passed the stick to Sam Rucker with a "Let's go, Sam!" Rucker then got the stick to senior Ryan Hamilton just ahead of the Cougar team, and Hamilton raced away down the stretch to get the win in 40.23 seconds.
In the men's hammer throw, senior Angus Taylor had already locked up the win, but on his final attempt, he stepped up with a new career-best toss of 204-feet, 2-inches. That's the second straight win for Taylor in the dual. Junior Conner Larned secured second place in the hammer with a best of 169-0.
Over in the long jump pit, junior Julian Bardwell took second with an opening round jump of 23-5 ½. Sophomore Kasen Covington came on to take third at 22-1 ¼.
For the second year in a row, the Husky javelin crew ran the table against the Cougars. This year UW went 1-4, highlighted by the return of Jimmy Brookman, who had not competed since the 2011 Pac-10 Championships, where he placed fourth before injuring his elbow and needing Tommy John surgery. On his very first throw back, Brookman uncorked a throw of 216-4, which should already be strong enough for NCAA West Prelims. That took third today, behind junior Joe Zimmerman's winning 231-6, and the 222-3 toss of freshman Quinn Hale. Fellow freshman Curtis Clauson was fourth at 212-6.
Back on the track, the 1,500-meter race was one of the day's most evenly matched and closely contested. Bywater, the anchor of UW's record-setting DMR indoors, had not yet competed outdoors this year due to a hip issue, but he showed a great kick today, coming from the chase pack to go to the front and hold off a charge from WSU's Todd Wakefield to get the win in 3:47.81.
Fired up after watching Carlson's record in the women's 400-meters, sophomore Maurice McNeal went out and fought for the victory in the men's race, clocking 47.15 in his first competition in six weeks, holding off WSU's Jacob Sealby, who ran 47.34. Another key point was grabbed by Rucker, who ran to a career-best 48.32, claiming third by the slimmest of margins. The same was true for junior Shayne Moore in the 110-meter hurdles, as he finished third by .04 seconds to add another crucial point. Moore ran 14.86.
Alaka was largely unchallenged in victories at 100-meters and 200-meters. His 10.39 win at 100-meters was almost three-tenths out front of the field, and he was more than a half second ahead of teammate Hamilton for the 200m win, running 20.89. Hamilton was second in 21.49, and also took third in the 100m in 10.69.
Big wins in the jumps from sophomores A.J. Maricich and Kasen Covington kept the men in contention late. Maricich got his first dual meet win after he was the only competitor up and over 6-11.
Covington's triple jump win was perhaps the day's most dramatic. With his final attempt, Covington flew 50-3 ¼, a new career-best outdoors, but more importantly it tied WSU's Stephan Scott-Ellis. But for the second time today, the first being in the long jump, Covington won the tiebreaker by virtue of a stronger second-best mark. Clayton Johnson added to the event win with a third-place mark of 47-10 ½, and senior Thomas Kmett had a big PR in what could be his final meet, going 47-1 for fourth.
Washington State made up some ground with an upset pole vault win, as Jake Baertlein PR'd at several heights to win at 17-1. J.J. Juilfs each cleared 16-9 ¼ to finish second and third-respectively.
A big season-best from freshman Derrick Daigre got UW second in the 800-meters, followed by Charlie Williams in third, but the Cougars clinched the meet by going first through third in the 3,000-meter run.
Players Mentioned
