Dawgs Move Up NCAA Lists On Busy Saturday

Saturday, February 10

Seattle, WA

All Day

University of Washington

Husky Classic

February 10, 2018 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

HUSKY CLASSIC
February 9-10 - Dempsey Indoor
Archived Video | Complete Results by Heats | Complete Results Compiled

DON KIRBY INVITATIONAL
February 9-10 - ABQ Convention Center
Complete Results

SEATTLE – The NCAA top-16 bubble is starting to form in the world of indoor track, and a couple Husky veterans put themselves on the inside of it with major efforts today as the Husky Classic came to a close in the Dempsey Indoor. Meanwhile down in New Mexico, another school record in the sprints went by the wayside at the Don Kirby Invitational, as the Husky women's 4x400m relay blew away the previous record by nearly five seconds.

Not only putting themselves squarely into the NCAA Indoor Championship mix but also getting outright victories today against excellent fields were junior Jack Lembcke in the shot put and senior Colby Gilbert in the 3,000-meters.

Lembcke continued to maintain his meteoric rate of improvement since the beginning of this indoor season, adding over two feet yet again to his career-best today with a throw of 63-feet, 10.50-inches on his second attempt of the day.

After redshirting 2017, Lembcke entered the year with an indoor shot put best of 56-8. He went 59-10 ½ at the UW Indoor Preview, then 61-7 ½ two weeks ago at the UW Invitational to jump up to fourth in school history. His mark today didn't move him up the Husky top-10 list anymore, but he more importantly jumped up to No. 9 in the NCAA this season based on marks entering the weekend.

Gilbert, fifth in the 3,000-meters at the NCAA Indoor meet last year, ran the distance for the first time this season after a solid mile run two weeks ago to get the rust off. He worked his way up through a loaded top section with about two laps to go, and made a move for the lead coming around the final turn, and he powered to the win in a time of 7:49.42. It wasn't better than Gilbert's own school record of 7:45.71 but no other Husky has broken 7:50, and Gilbert should be ranked No. 4 nationally when the results from the weekend are gathered up.

"In the cozy confines of the Dempsey, we had lots of great stuff," said Head Coach Greg Metcalf. "Jack Lembcke goes to number nine on the current NCAA list with a throw that has always gotten into the NCAA Championships so gosh that's exciting. Colby Gilbert today was awesome. He's been great at this weekend every year and to go and run 7:49 and get a win against that field was nothing short of spectacular and that's a great bolt of confidence."

As for the second record run in New Mexico in as many days, one day after Iman Brown lowered her 200-meter school record, the women's 4x4 made quick work of a school record set just last year. Hanna Tarleton led off the group and was followed up by Imani Apostol, Carolyn Birkenfeld, and Raquel Tjernagel, and they hit the line in 3:37.30, which due to the altitude of Albuquerque is converted to 3:37.74 for record-keeping purposes. That was nearly five full seconds faster than the record of 3:42.58 set last year, which only Birkenfeld was part of. The Dawgs went on to set the outdoor 4x400m school record last season at 3:35.65 and reach the NCAA Championships for the first time in program history, but only Apostol was on that group as well as today's, showing the depth the Huskies have found there.

"The New Mexico trip for our sprinters, you know we run nearly every week in the Dempsey and so to give them a chance to get on an airplane and go run on a 200-meter banked track is important for that group, and they went down and ran well," said Metcalf. "(Last night) Iman Brown continues to be spectacular and crushes her school record, then (today) Ryan Croson ran a big 400-meter PR and our women's 4x4 broke our school record by five seconds to run 3:37, that was an impressive run by all of them."

More from the Classic

Many more PRs and a couple more Top-10 marks were delivered by the Dawgs in the Dempsey today.

Gilbert's 3k time was followed by a string of PRs from his teammates, including a new top-10 mark from junior Fred Huxham who became just the fifth Husky to break eight minutes, running 7:56.98 to go to No. 5 all-time. Senior Andrew Gardner came in with a big PR of 8:05.99 and right behind him was Gavin Parpart at 8:06.50 for a five-second best. Julius Diehr also shaved three seconds off his PR to run 8:10.10.

On the women's side, Emily Hamlin had a season-best 3k time of 8:34.96. In an earlier heat, four Huskies ran together and all posted season's-bests. Freshman Camila David-Smith led the group in 9:40.59, freshman Hannah Waskom went 9:45.65, senior Madeleine Westerhoff clocked 9:49.45, and freshman Kiera Marshall ran 9:49.77.

In the women's 800-meters, junior Hannah Derby was sixth overall but the top finishing collegiate with a new indoor best of 2:07.48 that moves her up to No. 4 on the Top-10 lists. Sophomore Mikelle Ackerley ran just .02 off her PR in the 800-meters at 2:13.68 while freshman Katherine Slack got her first 800-meter time on the board at 2:15.42. In the men's 800m, freshman Devan Kirk got his first college 800m on the board with a solid time of 1:52.60.

The women's mile was one of the marquee races to watch with a trio of Husky All-Americans in the mix, and while all three ran good times, they were all just a few seconds shy of NCAA contention and personal-bests. Maddie Meyers finished in 4:39.56 while Amy-Eloise Neale crossed in 4:40.04 and Anna Maxwell ran 4:40.61.

In the men's mile, redshirt freshman Nate Beamer had a breakthrough mile run, posting a five-second PR with a time of 4:04.68. Nick Laccinole also got under 4:10 for the first time, running 4:09.37.

Also in the field events, freshman Jonah Wilson matched his shot put PR exactly, throwing 57-8 ½ to finish ninth. On the women's side, Gina Flint was fourth in the shot with a best of 50-1 ¼. In the weight throw, Angel Nkwonta was 14th overall at 56-5 ¾ while Katie Wardsworth had a season-best 53-0 ¼ that moves her up to No. 6 on the Husky top-10. Onyie Chibuogwu also had a mark of 56-2 competing unattached.

Chase Smith got back in the winner's circle in the pole vault with a clearance of 17-5 ½, missing attempts at 17-11 that would have put him in the top-16. Blaise Black was second with an indoor PR of 16-11 ½. For the women, Tori Franzen and Annika Dayton botch cleared 12-7 ¼ to lead UW.

Mayson Douglass and Gabriela Aquilini both posted matching clearances in the high jump, each making 5-2 ½ on their first tries.

In the morning 60-meter hurdles prelims, freshman Hannah Rusnak finished 11th overall in a time of 8.93 while Morganne Hill was 14th in 8.99.

Eric Simpson made the men's hurdles final and ran 8.33 in the final to finish seventh overall..

Christian Young was ninth in the 60-meter dash in 7.05 seconds and freshman Kevin Liu was 13th in 7.12. Freshman Olivia Ribera had a season-best 7.82 in the women's 60m for 12th overall. In the women's 400-meters, Chisom Eke had a PR of 58.73 and Morganne Hill ran 58.25.

More from New Mexico

It wasn't just the women's relay doing work today at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The men's 4x4 also had its best time in years and a new mark for the recordbooks.

The men's quartet of Evan Mafilas, Jacopo Spanò, Jason Palmer, and Ryan Croson got the overall victory today with a time of 3:09.24, which converted to 3:09.68, putting them No. 6 in school history with the best mark since 2007.

Croson pulled past Stanford on the final straightaway to get the win. The junior also ran a great race solo earlier in the day. He broke 47-seconds for the first time, at 46.97, however a .11 add-on for altitude moves it to 47.08. Still that time is Croson's second PR in a row after running 47.29 two weeks ago.

Sophomore Khalil Winfrey also turned in another PR in the 60-meter dash and climbed a couple more spots on the top-10 list in the process. He won his semifinal heat with a time of 6.74 seconds, bumping up to 6.76 with the altitude conversion, but that still is a .02 PR and takes him up to No. 4 in Husky history.

Also in ABQ, Darhian Mills had a season-best time of 8.69 in the 60-meter hurdles and Jelani Heath long jumped 17-11 ¾.

A few Huskies will likely compete one more time this weekend at the UW Indoor Open on Sunday in the Dempsey. The rest will train for the home finale, the MPSF Championships, just two weeks away on Feb. 23-24.