University of Washington
Pac-12 Championships
Thoirs Repeats As Pac-12 Pole Vault Champion
May 17, 2015 | Track & Field
Pac-12 Championships
May 16-17 - Los Angeles - Drake Stadium; UCLA
Tape-Delayed on Pac-12 Networks
Championships Home Page | Event Schedule | Live Results
LOS ANGELES – The highest yet in a career of high-flying performances for junior pole vaulter Jax Thoirs was the big highlight for UW on day one of the Pac-12 Championships at UCLA. Thoirs successfully defended his conference title, and led four Huskies into the points in that event at Drake Stadium. Nine Huskies scored in their events this afternoon, with many more advancing into Sunday's finals.
Through eight events on the men's side, the Huskies are fourth with 35 points, a full 25 of those coming in the pole vault, where Thoirs was first, junior Chris Williams took second, redshirt freshman Lev Marcus finished fourth, and senior J.J. Juilfs was seventh. The Husky women's team is 10th overall with six points, but a lot of opportunities to increase that total on Sunday.
The vault was center stage for the fans in attendance for much of the afternoon. At a bar of 17-feet, 0.75-inches, Thoirs, Williams, Marcus, and Arizona's Pau Tonnesen were the only four to clear. Marcus, the Seattle native and Nathan Hale grad, would make an outdoor season-best of 17-2 ¾ before going out. Williams, who was the Pac-12 runner-up as a freshman in 2013, had a clutch third-attempt make at 17-0 ¾, and then got another at 17-4 ½ to remain in second. Tonneson made 17-4 ½ before exiting the competition, with Williams finishing ahead on attempts.
But Thoirs never wavered as he defended his 2014 title. He had first attempt clearances with ease at each bar, locking up the win after he flew over 17-6 ½. As the only remaining jumper, Thoirs then elected to raise the bar to 18-6 ½, two inches higher than his PR and Scottish record. Thoirs wobbled the bar but it stayed up and Thoirs celebrated on the way down and standing on top of the mat. He then moved it to a potential UW school-record and Pac-12 Meet record of 18-9 ½, but couldn't quite set another record today.
The Huskies have now won five of the last seven Pac-12 pole vault titles, with Thoirs the first to repeat during that stretch. He's the first Husky vaulter to win back-to-back titles since American record-holder Brad Walker in 2002 and 2003.
“It was a great day,” said Thoirs. “I could tell right from the start that all my teammates were jumping well so I knew the Huskies were going to have a great day. We went 1-2-4 so that was great. Obviously I'm really happy to win and the PR's been a long time coming as well so that was a relief to get over that bar.”
The Husky javelin crew is a regular point producer at the conference meet, but injuries have taken a toll on All-Americans Quinn Hale and Carson Fuller this season. But junior Curtis Clauson answered the call today in a big way, putting it all together with two straight career-bests on his first two throws of the day. Clauson opened with a toss of 221-1, a PR by nearly three feet. He then topped that with a second attempt that sailed 225-3 that got him into second place heading into the final three throws. Clauson would get bumped to third in the fifth round, but held firm there to make the podium for the first time after two seventh-place finishes in his previous two Pac-12s. Freshman Denham Patricelli had a first round throw of 203-5 to make the final, but he did not take another attempt after feeling some elbow discomfort and finished ninth.
“It's actually just been a huge struggle all year,” said Clauson. “Practice has been going well but I just couldn't line it up in competition. So just actually competing how I practice was a big deal. Out preparation two weeks prior, we had a good throws session, we knew exactly what we needed to do and wrote it down. I just came out and executed.”
The final scorer today for the men was junior Meron Simon, who continued his strong steeplechase run with a fifth-place finish in a time of 8:52.63. Simon moved from the back of the field to take the lead with two laps to go, but couldn't quite win the kick to the finish. He was just a half second out of third. Defending champ Aaron Nelson was 10th in 9:00.33 and Andrew Gardner finished 11th in 9:04.03.
The top scorer on the day for the women was sophomore Kennadi Bouyer in the long jump. She becomes the first Husky woman to score in that event since Ashley Lodree took third in 2007. Bouyer made the final out of the second of three progressively stronger flights, going 19-0 ¼ on her second attempt. Returning for the final about 45 minutes after her last jump, Bouyer went a career-best 19-11 ¾ on her first jump of the final to move up to third-place at that point. She would have another strong jump of 19-7 ½ on her final attempt, winding up fifth overall. Her 19-11 ¾ mark moves her to No. 7 on the Husky top-10 list.
Also scoring for the women today were two first-time scorers. Redshirt freshman Gina Flint was eighth in the shot put at 48-5 ½, and senior Eleanor Fulton was eighth in the steeplechase, just the third of her career, in 10:29.30.
A number of Huskies navigated through the prelimary races today to set themselves up for point chases on Sunday. Junior Izaic Yorks made it through in not one, but two events, first running a career-best 1,500-meters time of 3:42.01 to take second in his heat. He came back not long after to take second again in the 800-meters heat two, running 1:50.48 to get an auto advancing spot.
Sophomore Maddie Meyers looked strong in a second-place heat finish in the 1,500-meters. Meyers ran 4:20.73 to reach her first final. In the women's 800-meters, Baylee Mires captured an auto advancing spot with a fast time of 2:07.87, second-fastest in the prelims, and freshman Rose Christen nabbed a finals spot as well, getting the ninth and final qualifier in 2:10.42.
Four Dawgs reached the finals in the hurdle events. Naivasha Sophusson Smith and Kimberly Stueckle both reached their first 100m hurdles finals, Sophusson Smith running a PR of 13.91 seconds to move to No. 8 on the Husky top-10 list, while Stueckle clocked a 13.94 to advance. Chris Williams had to run his 110m hurdles prelim right in the middle of the pole vault, but he hustled over and then ran a season-best time of 14.00 seconds, second-fastest on the day, to reach his third straight final in that event. Later in the day, senior Gianna Woodruff turned in a season-best lap in the 400m hurdles, crossing in 57.85 to return to the final where she was third a year ago.
Sophomore Andrew Brown powered into his first final in the 400-meters, as he posted a career-best 47.01, the fourth-best time of the day. Also moving through to the finals were junior Quadelle Satterwhite and freshman Jacopo Spano in the men's 200-meters. Satterwhite clocked a 21.18, the fifth-best time overall, while Spano needed every millimeter, as he got the final spot by three-thousandths of a second.
Senior Haley Jacobson was on the flipside of the split-second differences in track, as she just missed the 100-meter dash final by .01 seconds, running 11.72 to place 10th overall. Bouyer was 12th in 11.74 and freshman Sierra Peterson was 13th at 11.81, out of the only heat run into a headwind. Those were wind-legal PRs for all three, with Jacobson ranking fifth, Bouyer sixth, and Peterson now seventh on the Husky top-10 list.
Several more season- and career-bests were turned in on the big Pac-12 stage today. Junior Alexis Ford broke 56-seconds in the 400-meters for the first time, getting down to 55.64 to finish 16th overall. Senior Howard Lao had a wind-legal PR of 14.45 seconds to finish 10th in the high hurdles, just missing the final by one spot. Freshman Drew Schreiber gave his all in the 800m prelims, running a season-best 1:51.83 in his conference debut. Fellow freshman Anna Maxwell also had a season-best 4:26.07 in the women's 1500-meters to take 15th overall.
Wrapping up the nights was the women's and men's 10,000-meters. On the men's side, junior Tyler King was up at the front for the majority of the race, but ran out of gas with about 2k remaining and wound up 15th in 30:40.03. Sophomore Katie Knight stepped up to the 10k for the first time in her career, and came across in 10th-place in 34:21.84, while sophomore Kaylee Flanagan was 14th in 34:57.40.
Other Huskies to compete today included Frank Catelli and Jack Lembcke in the shot put, with Catelli taking 12th at 55-7 3/4 and Lembcke 16th at 51-8 1/2. Ashley Alexander was . Senior Erin Johnson was 22nd at 1,500-meters in 4:31.12, while Johnathan Stevens was 18th on the men's side in 3:52.26 and Nick Harris was 25th overall out of a heat that went out very slow, finishing in 3:56.03. Ashley Alexander was 11th in the javelin at 133-2 while Jaleecia Roland cleared 5-5 3/4 in the high jump to finish 16th. C.J. Smith finished 13th in the 400m hurdles in 1:02.94.
Lucas Strong was 17th overall in the 100-meters in 10.76 with Satterwhite 13th in 10.71. Freshman Cydnicia Wade ran 25.29 in her 200-meter prelim.
Action picks back up at 9 a.m. tomorrow with the women's hammer throw, and running events start at 1 p.m.
Husky Quotes
Jax Thoirs, pole vault champion:
On the victory: It was a great day. I could tell right from the start that all my teammates were jumping well so I knew the Huskies were going to have a great day. We went 1-2-4 so that was great. Obviously I'm really happy to win and the PR's been a long time coming as well so that was a relief to get over that bar.
On his attempts at 18-9 ½: It was a meet record and a school record so I was excited, but yeah I was tired, I had jumped a PR, so it's a little hard to get yourself going after that.
On the challenge of defending: I think after you've won it the first time you come here and you've got everything to lose, so to come and get the win and get exactly what I wanted was perfect.
Kennadi Bouyer, fifth in the long jump:
On if she thought she'd make the final after her flight ended: Honestly I didn't think it was going to make it in. I knew all the girls and it was going to be stiff competition. I honestly thought I was going to have to jump like 5.98 to make the final, so I was surprised.
On getting the PR on her first jump in the final: Yeah, I was really excited. My whole life I've been waiting to hear that “6” instead of a “5” (meters). It feels so good to score. People would ask about my goals and it was to score. I knew I'd have to PR to score in every event, so I'm excited.
Izaic Yorks, qualified for both the 1,500m and 800m finals:
On making both finals: I feel good. Just one day down, but not much more than that. (Compared to the Dual) it's a little tougher, it's a little faster, it's a little hotter, but hey, did the Rebels give up when they were fighting Darth Vader? No, sir.
Curtis Clauson, third-place in the javelin:
On the personal-best throws: It's actually just been a huge struggle all year. Practice has been going well but I just couldn't line it up in competition. So just actually competing how I practice was a big deal. Out preparation two weeks prior, we had a good throws session, we knew exactly what we needed to do and wrote it down. I just came out and executed.
On making the podium for the first time: Yeah, it's a huge relief. I don't think I expected to jump up that much. I expected to come out here and PR, but for me to do that and then jump up on the third-place podium is definitely a blessing.
2015 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships
May 16, 2015 – Day 1 of 2
Los Angeles, Calif. – UCLA – Drake Stadium
Husky Point Scorers (Top-Eight Finishers)
Men
1. Jax Thoirs, Pole Vault, 18-6 ½
2. Chris Williams, Pole Vault, 17-4 ½
3. Curtis Clauson, Javelin, 225-3
4. Lev Marcus, Pole Vault, 17-2 ¾
5. Meron Simon, 8:52.63
7. J.J. Juilfs, Pole Vault, 16-2 ¾
Women
5. Kennadi Bouyer, Long Jump, 19-11 ¾
8. Eleanor Fulton, Steeplechase, 10:29.30
8. Gina Flint, Shot Put, 48-5 ½
Players Mentioned
