Dawgs Win Six At USC In Outdoor Opener

Saturday, March 18

Los Angeles, Calif.

TBD

University of Washington

Trojan Invitational

March 18, 2017 | Track & Field

Complete Results

By: UW Athletic Communications

LOS ANGELES – Six event wins, a couple new top-10 marks, and a host of personal-bests made for a great place to start for the Husky track squad as it wrapped its opening outdoor weekend at the Trojan Invitational today. The Dawgs swept the wins in the 800-meters and pole vaults, and Darhian Mills and Casey Burns provided wins in the 400m hurdles and triple jump, respectively, that should factor into NCAA Prelims contention.

Sophomore Hannah Derby was a runaway winner in the women's 800-meters. She opened her outdoor season with the second-fastest time of her career, and just .04 seconds off her lifetime-best, going 2:07.96 to win by over two seconds. Redshirt freshman Connor Morello then followed that up with another big win, as he ran his fastest 800-meters as a Husky with a time of 1:51.39. Redshirt freshman Jonathon Cantle also had a solid third-place time of 1:52.85.

To finish out the day on the track, the women's 4x400m relay posted a new top-10 time with their runner-up run of 3:39.62, a second behind USC. The women's group went from Whitney Diggs to Imani Apostol, to Hannah Derby, and Laura Anuakpado on the anchor. The men's 4x400m was also second to USC with a time of 3:13.69, comprised of Andrew Brown, Jacopo Spanò, Michael Thomas and Ryan Croson.

Anuakpado had another top-10 time of her own as she dropped down to the 200-meters and won her heat easily in 24.02 seconds, which jumps her No. 6 all-time at UW. Apostol also ran a PR of 24.57 in the 200m and Diggs posted a 24.98.

The men also racked up some quick times in the 200m. Spanò opened up with a 21.30 to win his heat, a collegiate best. Senior Lucas Strong ran a 21.67 with a 2.0 tailwind just at the allowable limit for personal bests, and it was a PR by 0.15 seconds. Multi-eventer Josh Gordon also had a nice PR of 22.54 seconds.

Redshirt freshman Darhian Mills captured another impressive win in the 400-meter hurdles, going under 60 seconds for the first time with a 59.82 time that was nearly three seconds faster than the rest of the field. Mills also had a time of 14.12 in the 100m hurdles to take fourth. Junior Eric Simpson was fourth in the men's 110m hurdles, clocking a 14.71, and freshman Oscar Herrera went 54.66 in his first career 400-meter hurdles run.

In the open 400-meters, junior Carolyn Birkenfeld had a big career-best run to finish fifth in 55.74 seconds, taking over two tenths of a second off her previous lifetime-best. For the men, sophomore Ryan Croson was second overall in 48.02, but a huge PR was turned in my Michael Thomas, as he won his heat in 48.09, shattering his old PR of 48.83.

Strong and freshman Khalil Winfrey finished third and fourth in a competitive 100-meters field. With a +2.8 tailwind, Strong posted a 10.44, an all-conditions best, and Winfrey ran a 10.56. Sophomore Jordan Lucas also turned in a 10.80 in the same section. For the women, redshirt freshman Sarah Stavig ran a time of 11.95.

The 4x100m relays opened the track action, with the Husky women going 46.06 seconds and the men running a time of 40.74.

One of the best marks of the day came near the end of the meet, as junior Casey Burns triple jumped a wind-aided 51-5 to get the victory. Even with the 2.4 tailwind, that mark was just a few inches shy of his career-best of 51-8 ½ set in his runner-up Pac-12 showing from 2015. He also had a wind-legal jump of 50-6 ¾.

Senior Kristina Owsinski had a great official return to NCAA competition after her 2016 achilles injury as she won the women's pole vault today with a great mark of 13-11 ¼. The outdoor school record-holder went out taking three attempts at 14-3 ¼. Elizabeth Quick, just a week off of a seventh-place finish at NCAA Indoors, made 13-3 ½ to finish second.

Also getting right back to the runway after NCAA Indoors was sophomore Chase Smith, who got the win today with a first attempt clearance of 17-0 ¾. Lev Marcus and Blaise Black both made 16-0 ¾ and multi-eventer Cole Jensen also had a nice clearance of 15-9.

Sophomore Denham Patricelli had a big first meet back from a redshirt season in 2016, as he took second overall with a best of 212-5 on his sixth and final throw, exactly one inch shy of his career-best. In the women's javelin, sophomore Katherine Taylor finished fifth overall with a best mark of 137-5, just a foot away from her PR, while freshman Emmy Engle made her Husky debut with a throw of 136-3.

Washington got a boost in the men's long jump today from a Pac-12 Champion. All-Pac-12 wide receiver Dante Pettis has recently signed on for some track action this spring, and he opened with a very solid 23-10 ¼ mark in the long jump to lead UW and finish sixth overall. That mark also came into a -1.4 headwind. Gordon also had a long jump of 23-6 for seventh.

Kate Adler's 18-2 ½ mark led the women's efforts in the long jump, as she finished fifth overall. Junior Mayson Douglass cleared 5-4 ¼ to also finish fifth in the high jump.