Gardner’s Runner-Up Steeple Leads UW At Pac-12s

Saturday, May 12

Stanford, CA

11:30 AM

University of Washington

Pac-12 Championships

May 12, 2018 | Track & Field

Complete Day One Results

By: UW Athletic Communications

PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 12-13 • Stanford, Calif. • Cobb Track/Angell Field

Championships Home Page | Live Results

STANFORD, Calif. – Day one of the Pac-12 Track and Field Championships saw a number of senior Huskies turn in veteran efforts to lead the way, while Washington's large freshman class got a taste of what it takes to compete at one of the best meets in the country.

Senior Andrew Gardner just missed out on a conference crown, as he took second in the 3,000m steeplechase by less than a second. Seniors Amy-Eloise Neale, Colby Gilbert, and Hanna Tarleton led qualifiers into Sunday's finals, while Gina Flint added to her career Pac-12 point total in the shot put and Tori Franzen got her first ever Pac-12 points in the pole vault.

But the Huskies also featured fourteen true or redshirt freshmen in action today at Pac-12s, hosted by Stanford for the first time since 2007 at Cobb Track & Angell Field. Three of those freshmen made finals—Devan Kirk (800m), Allie Schadler (1,500m), and Jonah Wilson (8th in Shot Put), while the rest will look to be better, faster and stronger from the experience.

At the end of day one, the UW men sit tied with USC for seventh-place with 16 points, just five points out of fifth, while the women are 11th with 13 points. Sunday the first Husky event will be the women's discus at 1 p.m. and the first track events will be the 4x100m relay finals at 3 p.m. which is when the Pac-12 Networks live broadcast will join the action.

The most dramatic moment of the day for the Dawgs was in the men's steeplechase, as senior Andrew Gardner battled Steven Fahy of Stanford and Bailey Roth of Arizona around the final two laps. Gardner made a move into the lead with 300 meters to go, but a bit of a stumble going into the final hurdle let Fahy pull ahead and he won in 8:50.07, just ahead of Gardner who was second in 8:50.71, reaching the Pac-12 podium for the first time.

Sophomore Julius Diehr also earned his first Pac-12 points in the steeple as he crossed in seventh-place in 9:06.51, just off his PR.

Andrew Gardner on the Pac-12 podium for the first time in his career! pic.twitter.com/Nd5btb2XAk
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) May 13, 2018

In the women's steeplechase, junior Emily Hamlin raced to fifth-place for her first Pac-12 points as she lowered her career-best to 10:20.49 in the event.

The women's pole vault provided some Husky points as usual, and a couple of big PRs. Senior Tori Franzen, with a best of ninth-place at this meet two years ago, made a new PR of 13-2 ¼ as part of a streak of four consecutive makes to start her competition. That earned her sixth-place and three team points and likely secures her first trip to NCAA Prelims.

Franzen's sophomore teammate Annika Dayton had the best day of her career, as she powered through seven total clearances today. Dayton first tied her PR at 13-4 ¼, then she made 13-6 ¼ for a new PR and then did that one better with a clearance of 13-8 ¼ on a second attempt. Dayton went from 11th at Pac-12s a year ago with a make of 12-4 ½ to fifth today at 13-8 ¼. She also broke into the UW Top-10 list for the first time, tying for eighth, and she moves into the top-20 in the West Region.

The first two team points for UW came in the women's shot put where senior Gina Flint added to her career total with a seventh-place finish. Flint threw a best of 49-8 ½ and has now scored 15 conference points in her career with the women's discus to come tomorrow.

Junior Denham Patricelli earned a career-best finish in the javelin as he sent one 216-feet, 1-inch on his fifth round throw to finish fourth-place, just missing the podium by 10 inches but earning five team points.

Another point in the throws came from freshman Jonah Wilson, as he was just half an inch off his season-best to finish eighth in the shot put.

Senior Amy-Eloise Neale easily advanced into Sunday's 1,500-meters final and was joined by freshman Allie Schadler. Neale ran right behind the leader of her prelim heat and cruised to second in 4:24.64. Schadler got the fifth and final auto advancing spot with a time of 4:28.23. Anna Maxwell placed 19th overall and would not move on.

Amy and Allie are both into the final! Amy second in 4:24.64 and Allie fifth in 4:28.23 ?? #Pac12TF pic.twitter.com/dosKQvmZSO
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) May 12, 2018

On the men's side, four Husky entries were all grouped together into the second of two 1,500-meter heats. Senior Colby Gilbert ran up with the lead pack throughout and he was part of a wave of six runners that all crossed together in 3:47, with Gilbert getting fifth in 3:47.38 to move on. Redshirt freshman Nick Laccinole was 18th overall in 3:51.74 while senior Johnathan Stevens was 21st in 3:56.51 and redshirt frosh Nate Beamer was 22nd in 3:59.53.

The men's 800-meters was a nailbiter on two fronts. First, Connor Morello took third in his heat in 1:51.16 and had to wait to see if that time would hold up for one more heat. That last heat included Devan Kirk, who was tripped and nearly fell on the first lap but stayed upright and fought to the finish in 1:51.61, getting the auto qualifying spot by .09 seconds, and with the slower heat time that also meant that Morello advanced through to his second-straight Pac-12 final.

Senior Hanna Tarleton moved through to her first final in the 400-meter hurdles as she won her prelim in a time of 59.17 seconds. Unfortunately the Huskies were looking to put more in the final but Carly Lester, Morganne Hill, and Darhian Mills were the first three out of the final. Lester ran 59.53, Hill ran 1:00.03, and Mills went 1:00.17.

Freshman Hannah Rusnak and Hill finished 13th and 14th, respectively, in the 100m hurdles. Rusnak ran an all-conditions best of 13.88 seconds, her first time breaking 14, with a tailwind of +2.4, while Hill finished in 14.10 seconds, also wind-aided.

In 400-meter qualifying, senior Carolyn Birkenfeld posted a time of 55.52 seconds for 16th-place in her final individual run as a Dawg. Junior Imani Apostol had a season-best time of 55.76 and Sarah Stavig ran 57.57.

For the men, senior Michael Thomas ran a season-best of 47.79 to lead the Dawgs but that was good for just 12th overall. Freshman Evan Mafilas was 14th in 48.38 and junior Ryan Croson was 15th in 48.41 while Jason Palmer was 17th in 49.08.

Freshman Olivia Ribera just barely missed the final in her first Pac-12 appearance as she ran a wind-aided 11.72 seconds to finish 10th overall. Later in the day in the 200-meters, fellow freshman Iman Brown was 14th overall in a time of 23.87 seconds.

On the men's side, sophomore Khalil Winfrey ran a solid 10.60 time in the 100-meters, less than a tenth away from the final as he was 13th overall while freshman Kevin Liu was 21st at 10.80. In the 200-meters, freshman Kemuel Santana was also 13th overall in a time of 21.57 that was a .01 season's-best. Liu finished 20th in 21.95.

Hannah Derby was unable to reach a second consecutive 800m final as she led through the first lap of her heat but then faded and wound up 21st overall in 2:12.29.

The final races of the night were the 10,000-meters, with three Huskies running the distance for the first time. Kaitlyn Neal placed 10th in the women's 10k in 34:10.05, which should earn her a West Prelims qualifier. Junior Fred Huxham was 11th for the men in a time of 30:16.99 while sophomore Andy Snyder was 18th in 31:17.35.

In the first event of the day, senior Katie Wardsworth had a big season-best and nearly grabbed the first Pac-12 point of her career, but she was jumped by one thrower in the final round and bumped to ninth-place. Wardsworth was seeded just 15th coming into the meet, but she had a second round throw of 182-8 that tied for ninth to earn a spot in the finals. She then improved to 184-8 in the fifth round, ten feet farther than her season-best coming into the meet. That mark moves Wardsworth to No. 4 in school history as she wraps up her one season as a Dawg. Sophomore Angel Nkwonta had a throw of 167-7 on her first attempt then a couple fouls as she finished 15th overall.

In the women's javelin sophomore Emmy Engle came just a couple feet short of reaching the final, as she threw 141-9 to finish 11th overall while ninth went 144-1. Daisey Newman was 17th with a best of 133-10 in her first Pac-12 appearance.

Senior Mayson Douglass wrapped up her Husky career in the high jump today as she cleared a best of 5-4 ¼ to finish 13th overall. Freshman Jelani Heath finished 15th in her first Pac-12 long jump, going 18-11 ¼ on her first attempt.