Huskies Win Five Events At USC

Saturday, March 17

Los Angeles, CA

TBD

University of Washington

Trojan Invitational

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

March 17, 2018 | Track & Field

Complete Results

By: UW Athletic Communications

LOS ANGELES – Five victories including three 1-2 finishes highlighted a productive day for the Dawgs at the Trojan Invitational, wrapping up the opening week of the outdoor season. Individual wins came from Denham Patricelli in the javelin, Hanna Tarleton in the 400m hurdles, and Chase Smith and Annika Dayton with a pole vault sweep, while the women's 4x400m relay got a win to close out the day at Loker Stadium and Cromwell Field.

Opening the day with a win in the javelin was junior Patricelli who grabbed the victory with his sixth and final attempt, throwing 215-2. Redshirt freshman Dalton Sugg had a strong first official competition as a placed third with a best of 204-11 on his first attempt. Another redshirt freshman Jacob Wachtendonk, was fourth with a best of 190-0.

Sophomore Annika Dayton cleared a new PR to win the women's pole vault, as she cleared 13-1 ¾ on her third attempt. Tori Franzen was the only other Husky over 12-feet at 12-1 ½.

Chase Smith and Blaise Black gave the Dawgs another 1-2 finish in the men's pole vault. Smith made 17-4 ½ to lock up another NCAA Prelims bid, while Black made 16-8 ¾ for second. Redshirt frosh Parker Kennedy also made 15-7.

After her impressive indoor season, Hanna Tarleton got her outdoor season off with a bang as well, as she ran the 400m hurdles for the first time since the 2015 NCAA D-III Championships. Tarleton took nearly two-and-a-half seconds off her career-best to get the victory in 58.85 seconds. Right behind her in second-place was junior Carly Lester, who ran a PR of her own by a second-and-a-half with a time of 59.14 seconds. Tarleton and Lester go to No. 9 and No. 10 on the Husky top-10 lists with those times.

In the same race, sophomore Darhian Mills was fifth overall in 1:00.76 seconds. Mills was fourth in the 100m hurdles earlier in the day in 14.33 seconds.

The women's 4x400m relay got another victory to help close things out. Tarleton, Iman Brown, Carolyn Birkenfeld, and Imani Apostol went 3:40.47 for the win, and a new No. 9 mark on the top-10 lists.

Birkenfeld also placed second overall in the women's 400-meters and set a new career-best time of 55.58 seconds in the process. Michael Thomas, a Pac-12 scorer last year, got back into action after a limited indoor season. Thomas was fourth in the 400-meters in 48.37, while sophomore Jason Palmer was fifth in 48.47, a PR by a tenth of a second.

In the 100-meters, Jordan Lucas had a new PR in 10.79 seconds and freshman Kemuel Santana also had a strong 10.81-second time. Freshman Olivia Ribera posted a 12.18 time in the 100-meters to lead the Dawgs on the women's side.

At 200-meters, Ryan Croson dropped down from his usual quarter mile and was fourth overall with a wind-aided 21.33 seconds. Senior Jacopo Spanò ran a wind-legal 21.45 seconds and Santana completed a nice day with a 21.64 time with a 1.8 tailwind to take ninth overall. Freshman Evan Mafilas completed the group at 21.92. Imani Apostol was the only Dawg in the women's 200-meters, running a wind-aided 24.85 second time.

The first finals on the track were the 4x100-meter relays. The women got another top-10 mark with a time of 45.66 seconds, with a group of Sarah Stavig, Brown, Apostol, and Ribera. That's seventh-best in school history. The men were third in 41.09 seconds with Lucas, Santana, Croson, and Spanò.

The only Husky putting in multiple laps today was freshman Devan Kirk, who won his 800-meter heat in a time of 1:53.64 to rank third-fastest overall.

In the women's javelin, junior Katherine Taylor opened up with a PR on her first attempt, throwing 140-11. Sophomore Emmy Engle then had her best three throws on her final three attempts, and finishing with a best of 142-8 on her sixth attempt to place fifth overall. Rusnak also had a very solid javelin mark for a multi athlete, throwing 123-4.

Gina Flint and Angel Nkwonta finished second and third, respectively, in the women's shot. Flint went 49-1 ½ on her best throw and Nkwonta tossed 45-11 ¾.

Freshman Jelani Heath was fourth in the long jump with a mark of 18-9 and fellow freshman Hannah Rusnak was seventh at 17-6.

Mayson Douglass tied for third in the women's high jump, making 5-5.

Freshman Jaylen Taylor had his best triple jump mark of the year thus far, going 48-6 ¾ with a +2.0 tailwind to take third-place.

Next up for the Dawgs, following Spring Break next week, UW will split the squad and send one group to the Texas Relays from Mar. 28-31 and take another to the Stanford Invitational on Mar. 30-31, where UW's distance runners will open up their outdoor campaign.