March 26, 2008

Updated Results!
Meet Program | Schedule

ON THE TRACK: With another record-breaking indoor season in the books, the Husky track and field teams venture outdoors this Friday for the UW Outdoor Preview at Husky Stadium. It will be the first outdoor competition for the Huskies this year and one of only two home meets. Approximately 30 men and 30 women will compete for the Huskies, and will be joined by many local small colleges and club teams. Admission is free for spectators and both track and field events will begin at 4:30 p.m.

The Husky men's team is coming off its second-consecutive Top-10 finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships. They tied for 10th on the strength of performances by senior Norris Frederick and junior Jordan Boase. The first outdoor team rankings have the Huskies pegged ninth. Frederick, seniors Carl Moe, James Fredrickson, and Alex Harcourt, and sophomores Scott Roth and Jeff Gudaitis are back for the Huskies after competing at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last year.

Washington's women's group is headlined by 2007 NCAA Outdoor competitors Anita Campbell, Amanda Miller, and Stevie Marshalek. NCAA Indoor All-Americans Katie Follett, Michelle Turner, and Kelley DiVesta will look to carry their successes outdoors as well. The women tied for 22nd-place at the NCAA Indoor meet, with Miller, Follett, and Turner all earning All-American honors in the mile, and DiVesta taking seventh in the pole vault. 2006 NCAA 1500-meter champion Amy Lia is also expected to compete outdoors in her senior season after battling injuries.

Other Division-I schools in attendance for Friday's meet include the Oregon State women's squad, the Portland men and women, and small contingents from Washington State and Idaho. Smaller schools in large numbers include Seattle Pacific, Seattle University, Simon Fraser, and British Columbia.

ENTERING HUSKY STADIUM: All athletes, coaches, trainers, and spectators will enter Husky Stadium on the South East end or the North East end of Husky Stadium. Spectators can enter through the concourse level of the North side of the Stadium. Spectator admission is free. Spectators are not allowed on the track, in the warm-up area, or near the field event venues.

LIVE RESULTS: Results of all UW home track and field meets are posted live throughout the meet to the official site of UW athletics, www.GoHuskies.com. A link to a complete event schedule and live results will appear on the track and field sport page the morning of each meet, allowing fans the opportunity to follow along with the action as events conclude. Simply go to GoHuskies.com, and click on "track" from the "sports" pull-down menu to find the live results link on each meet day.

Dawg Bites
• The Husky men's 10th-place finish at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships was their second-straight Top-10 finish indoors, following 2007's all-time high seventh-place finish. The last two years represent the two-best NCAA Indoor finishes in school history, and the 2007 place equaled UW's third-best NCAA finish overall since 1930.
• Senior Norris Frederick was named the 2008 West Region Field Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field Coaches Association. It is the second year in a row Frederick won the award.
• Washington has sent a total of 72 athletes to the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championship since 2005, the most prolific stretch in team history. Those 64 have returned home with 58 All-America honors, also obliterating all previous three-year records.
• Freshman Elisa Bryant is only halfway into the first season of her Husky track and field career, and yet she is already a school record-holder ... by a long shot. At the UW Invitational on Feb. 2, Bryant smashed the 10-year-old school record in the 20-lb weight throw held by former Olympian Aretha Hill. Bryant's throw of 59-7 3/4 was well past Hill's 1999 mark of 55-2, which in turn was three feet farther than Soozie Shanley's former second-place mark. Bryant has since expanded her record up to 61-1 1/2.
• Washington's No. 2 indoor preseason men's ranking marked the highest ever ranking for a UW track program, surpassing last season's No. 4 indoor ranking. The ranking was based on returning athletes from last season's final descending order list.
• In both 2006 and 2007, Washington boasted at least one NCAA competitor in every event area -- sprints, hurdles, middle distance, long distance, relays, horizontal jumps, vertical jumps, pole vault and throws. This season the Huskies already covered every area indoors save for throws, long distance and hurdles.
• In 2006-07, the Husky men were one of only four teams that finished in the Top-15 in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.
• Washington has boasted at least one Pac-10 champion in eight-straight years, and at least one NCAA champ for five-straight seasons. Senior Ryan Brown extended both streaks in 2007, winning NCAA indoor and Pac-10 800m crowns.

2008 INDOOR IN REVIEW: Washington track and field was put front and center before the indoor season even began, as the Husky men earned a No. 2 preseason ranking from the USTFCCCA. An all-time high for the program, the Huskies spent the early part of the season recovering from an assortment of injuries, and never quite reached full strength. But when NCAA's rolled around, senior Norris Frederick and junior Jordan Boase were enough to propel the men to a 10th-place finish. Frederick took second in the long jump and sixth in the high jump, and Boase was third at 400-meters, scoring 17 points total. Sophomore Scott Roth also made his third NCAA appearance, taking 10th in the pole vault. On the women's side, the Huskies broke into the Top-20 late in the season, thanks in large part to the women's dominant middle-distance corps. Seniors Amanda Miller and Michelle Turner and sophomore Katie Follett all earned All-American honors in the mile, making UW the only team at NCAA's to earn three All-American awards in one event. Miller was fifth, Follett sixth, and Turner ninth. Senior Kelley DiVesta also earned points at the national meet with her seventh-place pole vault finish. DiVesta set a new personal record at NCAA's with a 13-9 1/4 clearance to earn her first All-American award. The women's mile and pole vault added up to nine points for the Huskies, placing them in a tie for 22nd, the third-best finish all-time for the women. All told, the Husky men and women combined for seven All-America honors. Seven new indoor school records were set during the 2008 campaign, including three by Follett (mile, 3000m, DMR). The Dempsey Indoor was a hotbed for worldclass talent once again, and nine facility records were smashed during the season, including eight on the men's side. Norris Frederick provided one of the most thrilling facility records when he long jumped 26-7 3/4 to win the MPSF Championship on Feb. 29. Frederick's mark was a personal-best and sixth-best in the world at the time.

2008 Dempsey Indoor Records
Men's 200m 20.93, Brent Gray, Long Beach St., 2/29/08
Men's Mile 3:56.00, Steve Sherer, Athletic Performance, 2/2/08 (No. 2 in the world)
Men's DMR 9:31.52, Stanford, 2/29/08
Men's High Jump 7-6 ½, Michael Mason, UBC, 1/19/08
Men's Long Jump 26-7 3/4, Norris Frederick, UW, 2/29/08 (No. 6 in the world)
Men's Shot Put 70-5 1/4, Ryan Whiting, Arizona St., 3/1/08 (No. 8 in the world)
Men's Weight Throw 76-5 1/2, James Parker, Team XO, 2/16/08
Men's Heptathlon 5,784, Josh Hustedt, Stanford, 3/1/08
Women's High Jump 6-1 1/2, Ebba Jungmark, Wash. St., 2/16/08