Track Season Preview: Jumps/Vault/Multis

Washington's 2018 track season kicks off on Saturday as the Huskies host the UW Indoor Preview, the first of five big collegiate meets set for the Dempsey. In the second event preview, assistant coach Pat Licari takes a look at the pole vault, jumps, and multi-events. Now starting his third decade as a coach at Washington, Licari had two more pole vaulters win league titles last season and reach the NCAA podium. But UW will have to reload in the women's vault where it has won the past four Pac-12 titles, as First Team All-Americans Kristina Owsinski and Elizabeth Quick both graduated. MPSF pole vault champion Chase Smith leads a deep men's vault crew, while two-time Pac-12 podium finisher Casey Burns will be counted on again in the men's triple jump. Licari also has some big freshman talents to begin working with in the women's jumps.

Jumps/Pole Vault/Multis

Returning 2017 Conference Scorers and NCAA Qualifiers

Men
Blaise Black, Pole Vault (3rd at Pac-12s; 6th at MPSFs; 25th at NCAA Prelims)
Jacob Bowler, Pole Vault (8th at Pac-12s; 5th at MPSFs)
Casey Burns, Triple Jump (3rd at Pac-12s; 2nd at MPSFs; 21st at NCAA Prelims)
Zach Shugart, Pole Vault (5th at Pac-12s; 8th at MPSFs; 40th at NCAA Prelims)
Chase Smith, Pole Vault (4th at Pac-12s; MPSF Champion; 11th at NCAA Indoors)

Women
Annika Dayton, Pole Vault (7th at MPSFs)

Assistant Coach Pat Licari

You have a lot of areas under your watch but the one with the most returning experience looks to be the men's vault.
Yes, we had four guys over 17 feet last year, and I'd love to have more than four over 17 this season. The one returner that didn't really see any competitive action is Taylor Barnes, and he's a beast, he can do some good stuff in the pole vault for sure so really excited about having him out there. Jacob Bowler was just feeling his way last year and was kind of hit and miss in meets, but I think he can jump well so he and Taylor can both make 17 and join that group.

Then Chase Smith is looking good. Excited about him coming out strong. Obviously last year he was slowed down quite a bit by his appendectomy but he's healthy and ready to jump well. Blaise Black and Zach Shugart are looking solid and Lev Marcus is jumping well and healthy so he's excited to see if he can make NCAAs as a senior which he did as a freshman. The one other guy in the pole vault that redshirted last year is Parker Kennedy who came in as a multi but has moved to more of a pole vaulter exclusively.

Obviously the women lost a couple All-Americans last year in Kristina Owsinski and Elizabeth Quick so those are some big shoes to fill.
Yeah, we will be looking for some new people to step up, and we have three new freshmen. They all come in with about the same PRs, about 12-6 to 12-9. Ginger Markow, Allyson Ely, and Makenna Barton. They all have some skills and we'll see how they develop. Of the returners, probably the most accomplished was Annika Dayton, she scored indoors and made 13-feet indoors and she is continuing to improve and looking good. All the returners could make that leap to something bigger and be a factor at conference and hopefully get to Prelims.

What other returners could be in line for some PRs this season?
Casey Burns is back and is ready to go and ready to compete in the triple jump. He has been right on the verge of NCAAs his whole career, so hopefully just a little improvement and he can hit that 52 mark. He could get our school record and hopefully hit it at Prelims and get to nationals as a senior.

In the women's high jump, Mayson Douglass hurt her knee last year and it slowed her down but she's looking good and feeling good and is healthy now. Gabbi (Aquilini) was kind of finding her way last year but I think she can also jump pretty good if she can stay healthy and put it all together.

It looks to be a pretty talented group of newcomers, especially on the women's side in the jumps.
Yeah, a couple sprinters that are also talented jumpers, Iman Brown and Jelani Heath, who have been working with Eric's sprint group but can help us a lot in the jumps. Jelani is a solid sprinter but her long jump is her best event, she's jumped over 20-feet. That is very exciting because it's been a long time since we've had someone reach that mark. Iman has high jumped 5-7 and also long jumped over 19-feet and I think the plan is she might open with some high jumping in our first meet here so she's very intriguing as an all-around athlete.

In the multis, Hannah Rusnak, she was a hurdler and long jumper in high school with really solid marks and we've been training her to be a multi and she's been doing a really great job. Pretty excited to see what she can do in the multi.

Then for the men we have Jaylen Taylor, a local triple jumper who is coming along nicely and I think he'll jump well in the triple. We don't really have a true long jumper on the men's side this year. Casey and Jaylen will do a little long jumping but they're definitely both stronger in the triple. The other person who could see some long jumping would be Taylor Barnes the vaulter who has done it a few times and has jumped around 23 in practice.

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Taylor Barnes

Makenna Barton

Blaise Black

Jacob Bowler

Iman Brown

Casey Burns

Annika Dayton

Mayson Douglass

Allyson Ely

Jelani Heath

Parker Kennedy

Lev Marcus

Ginger Markow

Kristina Owsinski

Elizabeth Quick

Hannah Rusnak

Zach Shugart

Chase Smith

Jaylen Taylor

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