Dawgs Busy With PRs At Last Chance Meet

Friday, February 15

Seattle, WA

2:00 PM

University of Washington

Last Chance College Elite Meet

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

February 15, 2019 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – In their last showcase before the conference championships, the Husky track and field squad posted more than thirty personal-bests at the Last Chance College Elite Meet, and a huge win from the men's distance medley relay capped off the night as the group ran the third-fastest time in school history and likely secured a trip to NCAA Indoors.

The final event of the night provided the biggest drama, as the men's DMR looked to post a time that would land in the top-12 in the NCAA to make the cut for the championships. The race quickly turned into a three-team battle between the Huskies, Oregon, and the Brooks Beasts professional team.

Senior Connor Morello led off on the 1,200-meter leg and passed to freshman Cass Elliott who impressed on his first DMR. Sophomore Devan Kirk kept UW up front on the 800-meter leg then handed to Mick Stanovsek for the final 1,600-meters. Stanovsek ran in third for most of the final mile but made a move into the lead with 200 meters to go, exactly as Head Coach Andy Powell had instructed.

"Coach Powell knows me and he saw in my eyes that I wanted to go a little earlier, and if he hadn't been on the track I probably would have gone with 600 (meters) to go or something, because I like driving from a long ways out, but he kept telling me to wait until 200 to go," said Stanovsek. "With a lap to go I just kind of had a smirk on my face because I knew I felt great and would be able to close really hard and help our team qualify."

Stanovsek moved into first and would hold it down the homestretch, bringing the Huskies through in a Meet Record time of 9:28.14 just ahead of the Ducks. It was nine seconds faster than the Dawgs had run back at the UW Invitational and should rank them No. 5 in the NCAA after the dust settles this weekend. It was also the third-fastest time in school history, just behind two different marks set by the 2016 squad that was the runner-up at NCAAs.

"We ran a pretty significant lineup than we did a few weeks ago which shows our depth and that we're on the verge of being a mid-distance powerhouse," said Stanovsek. "I think I was ready and with the help of Coach Powell we did it the right way."

Morello said he'd been nagging Coach Powell to let him run the 1,200-meter leg and Powell let him know that this week was the opportunity. "That's something I've always wanted to do my whole life is run a DMR, and to execute it like that was so fun," said Morello. "To get to run the (1,200m leg) I was ecstatic. Today was by far the most memorable moment I've had in college."

The DMR was also one of six new Top-10 marks the Huskies posted on Friday. The first one came early as senior Onyie Chibuogwu had a couple of PRs to win the women's weight throw with a toss of 64-feet and a quarter-inch, going from third to second on the top-10 list. Freshman Makayla Kelby, redshirting but competing unattached, had a toss of 54-10 1/4 that would have ranked sixth in school history. Kelby also won the shot put at 49-9 3/4, a PR that would also be No. 6 on the school top-10 lists.

Another new top-10 mark came in the men's weight throw, where redshirt freshman Elijah Mason got a win with a new best of 59-9 1/2, taking the No. 10 spot in school history. Connor Jost was right behind him in second at 59-7 3/4.

The sprinters had a strong day led by the quickest 60-meters for any Husky since NCAA Champion Ja'Warren Hooker was wearing purple. Khalil Winfrey exploded out of the blocks and finished off a new PR of 6.73 seconds in the prelims today, the fourth-fastest time in school history. He would come back and win the final in 6.83 seconds.

Kemuel Santana also had a PR of 6.92 seconds in the 60m final and he came back to win the 200-meters in a big PR of nearly three-tenths of a second as he ran 21.69. Kevin Liu also ran indoor PRs of 6.98 and 22.30 today.

On the women's side, senior Imani Apostol started the day with a 60m PR of 7.63 seconds and later she took second in the 400-meters in an indoor PR of 55.80, just .01 off the top-10 list. Assa Kaba ran a PR of 7.64 and Aaliyah Wilson was right with her with a 7.65.

But it was multi-event specialist Hannah Rusnak who got a top-10 mark today, in the 200-meters, her third different event this season. Rusnak, the sophomore, was second overall in the 200m in 24.57, a new PR by more than half a second, and the new No. 6 mark in school history. So far this season she also ran the No. 5 time in the 60m hurdles of 8.42 and scored the seventh-best pentathlon total of 3,665.

Kaba also had a 200m PR of 25.07, and in the 400-meters, Darhian Mills, running unattached, had a 56.56 personal-best as did Morganne Hill in 57.17.

The big individual highlight in the distance events was Katie Rainsberger posting an outstanding mile time for the third time this season, and this time she broke her two-year-old PR as she was right on the pace-setter throughout and stayed aggressive up front, pushing hard to the line for a time of 4:35.15. That was over a second and a half faster than her time from three weeks ago, and moves her back up into the top-16 into good position for NCAA qualification.

Sophomore Allie Schadler ran another solid mile in 4:38.63 coming off her big PR last week, and senior Anna Maxwell was the winner of her heat in 4:44.44. A few more Dawgs had mile PRs, including Emily Hamlin in 4:48.22, Olivia O'Keeffe in 4:48.70, Sarah Carter in 4:56.86, and Hannah Waskom in 4:59.90.

The men's milers were led by another PR from Nate Beamer who ran 4:04.44. Tanner Anderson also dropped down to the mile and ran 4:10.35 and freshman Alex Slenning ran a season-best 4:11.11 and redshirt freshman Charles Beyer went 4:12.61.

The horizontal jumps crew also took some big strides today, led by PRs from Jaylen Taylor and Sam Richmond. Taylor won the triple jump for the second straight week but this time it came with an indoor PR as he went 49-1 on his fourth attempt which is less than an inch away from the No. 10 mark on the recordbooks. Richmond had three long jumps over the seven-meter mark, his best going 23-4 1/2, as he finished second.

On the women's side, Jelani Heath was just off her season-best going 18-9 1/4 on her first attempt and Rusnak went 18-3 1/4, one inch off her season-best as well.

The vaulters were led by the unattached duo of Chase Smith and Olivia Gruver who both picked up wins, but Smith earned himself a new PR today, by one centimeter. Smith made 16-10 1/4 and 17-5 1/2 on first attempts, and then cleared 17-9 1/4 on a second try. On his third attempt at 18-1 1/4, Smith wobbled the bar but it stayed for a new career-best. He had two good tries at 18-5 1/4 as well. Also today, Zach Shugart had his best effort thus far in 2019, clearing 16-4 1/2.

Gruver opened up at 14-2 1/2 and cleared that before going out at 14-7 1/4. But the Dawgs also got PRs from Makenna Barton and Kim Kramers at 12-6 3/4, and Annika Dayton early made 13-0 3/4 on her first attempt before going out at 13-6 1/2.

The Dawgs will wrap up the Dempsey Indoor season next week hosting the MPSF Championships on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22-23

Head Coach Andy Powell
"I think we were a little off our game last week with the snowstorm and having to move a lot of things around, so our coaches did a really good job of emphasizing this meet and we really had a good meet across the board. I was really happy with how the men competed because it seems like a low-key meet but they took it seriously and we had a lot of big PRs.

"Khalil I was really happy with his big PR and he's close to having a breakout. Toby did a great job with our jumpers, Jaylen Taylor and Sam Richmond. Chase Smith redshirting but still jumping a PR was really good. Culminating with the DMR which I think will end up going to nationals and it was a great team effort. Connor Morello, one of our seniors, stepped up to a leg he'd never run before and he was confident and he thought he could get it done, and he really set the tone."

Director of Track & Field Maurica Powell
"We were really just looking to practice competing with a solid field. We'd been out in the snow all week, and we used this meet to come inside, get a few intervals in, and that was all for us. For the kids preparing for the NCAA Championships they trained through it and can use it as a momentum builder. The only real outcome we were looking for today was that men's DMR. Everything else was to get some good work in and lay down a mark to make our MPSF team for next week. A lot of good rallying today, tough competing. Some good PR's today in every event group, the sprinters, vaulters, and throwers along with the milers today."