University of Washington
UW Invitational
Women's DMR Back In The Mix With Winning Time
January 30, 2016 | Track & Field
UW Invitational
Friday-Saturday, January 29-30
Admission: $5 general admission; kids age 10 and under are free; UW students with Husky Card are free
Coverage: Flotrack Live Video | Live Results | Pentathlon Grid | Heptathlon Grid Day One
Meet Info: Heat Sheets (Updated 1/29) | 60m Auto Advancers | Final Schedule
SEATTLE – A pair of No. 2 times in Husky history and a 2016 world-leading mark from a U.S. Olympian made for quite the day one at the UW Invitational tonight in the Dempsey. Washington's women's DMR put itself into the NCAA picture once again with the second-best time in school history, Kennadi Bouyer dashed to the second-quickest 200-meters by a Dawg, and pro runner Kim Conley ran the fastest 5k in the world this year in 15:09.31.
The lion's share of the meet is set for Saturday, with the meet kicking off at 9:30 a.m. and the top heats on the track scheduled to go at 3:15, but UW made a strong impression on day one, with five new Top-10 marks to add to the records.
The last time the Husky women ran a DMR was at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships, where Baylee Mires, Gianna Woodruff, Eleanor Fulton, and Maddie Meyers combined to finish fifth in the nation and earn First Team All-America honors. Woodruff was the only graduate from that squad, and senior Krista Armstead stepped in to join the other three, running the 400-meter leg.
The Huskies would put that quartet against another strong group made up of Anna Maxwell, Hannah Derby, Amy-Eloise Neale, and Katie Knight. Through the first 1,200 meters, Fulton and Maxwell were nearly even, with Fulton getting just a slight lead to Armstead. Mires, a Second Team All-American in the 800-meters outdoors, opened things up a bit on the 800m leg, and gave Maddie Meyers a cushion over her teammate Knight. Meyers ran the final 1,600-meters on her own, pushing the pace harder over the final couple laps to finish a 4:36 split and get the Dawgs across in 11:04.14. The second Husky squad wound up in 11:26.25.
Based on results elsewhere around the NCAA tonight, the 11:04.14 time will put the Huskies fifth in the national rankings. It's the second-fastest in school history, and faster than the time of 11:05.38 that got the Huskies the twelfth spot to NCAAs last year.
The men put three teams into the top heat of the men's DMR, with the A and B squads virtually even through the first three legs, until Izaic Yorks pulled away on the final 1,600-meters to give the win to the team of Colby Gilbert, Andrew Brown, Andrew Prentice, and Yorks in a time of 9:37.72. That ranks as the 10th-best time in school history.
Two weeks after she ran the second-fastest 60-meters in school history, junior Kennadi Bouyer posted the second-fastest indoor 200-meters in UW history this evening, as she clocked 24.37 to take second out of 81 competitors. She trails only Ashley Lodree's 24.22 from 2007. Sophomore Sierra Peterson was fifth overall in a time of 24.93, and Cydnicia Wade was 15th in 25.25 seconds. Senior Travis Marshall had the best time for the UW men, going 22.37 for 18th overall.
Another top-10 mark came from senior Sydney Harris in a great first 5k as a Dawg for the transfer from Villanova. Harris14th in the loaded heat, and eighth among current collegiate athletes, in a time of 16:38.75. That ranks her at No. 9 on the Husky top-10 lists.
The multi-events occupied the first several hours of the day, with the women's pentathlon wrapping up, and four of seven events of the men's heptathlon taking place. In the pentathlon, senior C.J. Smith finished with a career-best 3,491 points to move to No. 10 on the UW lists. Smith had PRs of 9.22 seconds in the 60m hurdles, an indoor best of 4-9 ½ in the high jump, and a PR of nearly two feet in the shot put at 34-11 ¼. She also ran the second-fastest 800-meter time overall, clocking 2:17.32. Ericka Budinich also had a career-best score with 2,874 points and Ciana Baron scored 2,657.
Sophomore Cole Jensen enjoyed a great first day in the heptathlon, setting PRs in three of the four events. He opened with a career-best 7.07-second 60-meter dash, then long jumped another PR of 21-7 ¼. He then improved his shot put best by nearly two feet with a toss of 41-10 ½, and finished with a strong high jump clearance of 6-feet, 8-inches. Jensen currently sits fourth with 3,058 points, behind last year's NCAA decathlon runner-up Pau Tonnesen, as well as a former Japanese Olympian, Keisuke Ushiro. Sophomore Josh Gordon is also eighth after day one with 2,927 points, earning PRs of his own in the 60-meters (7.09), shot put (35-3), and indoor high jump (6-3 ¼) to go with a long jump of 23-1 ¼.
The women's weight throw was one of the few open field events to take place today, with four Huskies seeing action. Sophomore Onyie Chibuogwu was seventh overall with a toss of 54-1 ¾ on her second attempt. Senior Carolyn Gravelle through 50-6 ¾ and senior Alyx Toeaina had a personal-best of 50-3 ½, while senior Bev Coleman threw 49-8 ½.
In the first of two flights of the women's pole vault, Jessica Goodkin and Candace Ho had the best marks with clearances of 12-0 ½. That was a PR by six inches for Ho. The second flight of the women's vault will be Saturday.
