Quick, Smith Sweep MPSF Vault Titles On Day One

Friday, February 24

Seattle, Wash.

12:00 PM

University of Washington

MPSF Indoor Championships

February 24, 2017 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

MPSF Championships
February 24-25, 2017 - Dempsey Indoor

Complete Day One Results - Pentathlon Grid - Heptathlon Day One Grid

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Heat Sheets - Event Schedule - MPSF Meet Home Page

SEATTLE – A regular occurrence at conference meets in recent years, Washington once again swept the men's and women's pole vault titles today to highlight the first day of MPSF Track & Field Championship competition in the Dempsey. Senior Elizabeth Quick and sophomore Chase Smith each captured their first indoor conference titles and in so doing, shored up their chances of advancing on to the NCAA Indoor meet in two weeks.

The high flying wins in the northeast corner of the Dempsey give the Huskies some momentum going into Saturday's big day of competition, the final day of indoor action for the Dawgs save for the athletes that finish ranked in the top-16 nationally that continue on to NCAAs.

With seven of the 17 events finished on the women's side, Washington is sixth out of the 20 team field with 18 points, while the men have completed six events, with UW sitting in fourth out of 15 teams with 25.5 points. USC's women hold the lead with 51 points and the UCLA men own a small edge over Arizona State, Long Beach State, and the Huskies. Action will resume at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow and run until approximately 3 p.m., with the finals on the track coming one after another.

Washington, under the guidance of assistant coach Pat Licari, has swept the Pac-12 pole vault titles for the past three years during the outdoor season, and today marks the second time sweeping the indoor MPSF vault titles in the past three seasons, also capturing both in 2015.

Smith, the Helena, Montana product, was one of three vaulters over 17-5 ½, which would have been a lifetime-best just two weeks ago, but Smith cleared 17-11 at a meet at Air Force last weekend on an off week for the rest of the Husky squad. After a first attempt miss by all three vaulters, Smith lifted off on his second run and sailed over 17-11 ¼ cleanly to take the lead. Oregon's Cole Walsh and Arizona State's Garrett Starkey were unable to match as Smith took the first big title of his college career.

"I jumped 5.46 last week, but really I was the only person there, and I passed forty centimeters to get to that height, so this week was much more of a battle," Smith said. "I had to just believe in myself and not get ahead of myself even though the one that counts is five bars away. So I think I did a really good job of that today. I had some good attempts at 5.52, if it was 5.50 I probably would have made it, so it was just a nice way to learn things and now I'll keep my eye on the (NCAA rankings) and see where I end up after this week."

Quick backed up her 2016 Pac-12 title with her first indoor title today. Four vaulters all made it over 13-6 ¼ without any misses, but then all four missed their three tries at an even 14-feet. That prompted a jump-off for the title, with all four competitors getting one more shot at the current height. Given the extra chance, Quick took advantage of it, coming through in the clutch to make 14-feet for the first time this season and clinch the win. It's the fourth straight MPSF women's pole vault title for the Huskies, following Diamara Planell Cruz last year, and Kristina Owsinski in 2014 and 2015. Quick improves to a tie for ninth in the current NCAA standings and will likely make her second straight NCAA Indoor appearance.

It wasn't just a two-person show in the vault, however. Redshirt freshman Annika Dayton cleared a new PR of 13-0 ¼ to finish seventh and pick up two points in her first conference meet. Tori Franzen and Candace Ho also made season-bests, 12-6 ¼, to finish just outside the scoring. The men's vaulters put four in the top-eight, with freshman Jacob Bowler placing fifth at 16-5 ½, sophomore Blaise Black tying for sixth at 15-11 ¾, and freshman Zach Shugart clearing the same height to finish eighth, as UW posted 17.5 points in that event alone.

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The Husky sprinters had a busy day with the finals of the 200-meter dashes tonight plus the prelims in the 60m dashes and hurdles. The top scorer today was junior Jacopo Spanò, who hustled to fifth-place in the 200-meters in a new indoor PR of 21.34 seconds.

Seniors Kennadi Bouyer and Lucas Strong each moved through to Saturday's finals in the 60-meter dashes. Bouyer rolled to a win in her heat in 7.31 seconds, fourth-fastest time on the day, while Strong reached his first career MPSF final in 6.79 seconds.

Sophomore Sarah Stavig finished 16th in the 60-meters in 7.55 seconds, and was 10th in the 200-meters in 24.73, both times exactly .01 off her personal-bests. Freshman Khalil Winfrey ran two PRs to cap a promising first indoor season, as he was 10th in the 60m in 6.87, and was 18th at 200-meters in 22.16. Junior Eric Simpson was 10th in the hurdles in 8.16.

Closing things out on the track were the distance medley relays. The Husky women finished third overall in 11:14.37, led by an outstanding lead-off leg from Amy-Eloise Neale, and a 2:06 800-meter split from Hannah Derby. Darhian Mills ran the 400m leg to keep the Huskies in the lead early, and Emily Hamlin closed the final mile. The men's DMR of Colby Gilbert, Ryan Croson, Mason Fletcher, and Andrew Gardner finished fifth in 9:50.99.

The men's and women's weight throw champions were crowned today. Junior Onyie Chibuogwu just missed the finals by one spot, placing 10th overall with a best of 57-5 ¾. Junior Carey Campbell had a season's-best of 56-8 ¾ to finish 15th overall.

A season-best of 16:36.03 from senior Kaylee Flanagan in the 5,000-meters was good for 11th-place tonight, while redshirt freshman Charlie Barringer ran his first 5k and placed 22nd in 14:31.38.

In the multis, sophomore Carly Lester upped her pentathlon PR by nearly 250 points, as she scored 3,507 points to finish 11th overall. That score is exactly one point shy of UW's top-10 list in the event. She had a new PR in all five events, going 8.98 in the 60m hurdles, high jumping 5-1, then throwing 29-4 ¾ in the shot put, long jumping 17-5 ¼, and running a 2:21.13 for 800-meters.

The men moved through four of the seven heptathlon events, with Josh Gordon and Cole Jensen squarely in the mix for team points, with Gordon currently fifth with 2,983 points and Jensen right behind in sixth at 2,975. Jensen won the high jump event at 6-8, while Gordon had an impressive 23-4 long jump to finish fourth there.

Senior Kate Adler finished 14th in the long jump today, going 18-0 ½, a season-best.