SEATTLE – A fruitful week in California wrapped up for Husky track and field tonight at the Beach Invitational and the Cardinal Classic, with the Huskies coming home with dozens of personal-bests, eight new top-10 marks, and a pair of school records from the past four days. Saturday's long list of standout efforts was led by a huge discus throw from Elijah Mason, a victory and PR in the 400m hurdles by Darhian Mills, and more high-flying from Olivia Gruver in the pole vault.
Beach Invitational
At Jack Rose Track in Long Beach, Elijah Mason, in just the third discus competition of his redshirt freshman season, announced himself as a presence nationally with a huge third round throw of 199-feet even. A World Junior Championships finalist last year in the discus and one of the top recruits in the country coming out of Casa Grande, Ariz., all signs pointed to Mason being one to watch in college, but he fast-tracked that today by raising his career-best by 15 feet.
Mason's 199-0 mark puts him up to No. 7 in the NCAA this season, No. 1 in the Pac-12 thus far, and it also put him at No. 7 in UW school history. It broke the freshman school record, and was the best toss by a Husky in twelve years. Mason also had another throw of 189-feet, 1-inch today that ranks as the second-farthest of his career.
Washington's 400-meter hurdles crew continued to impress on the track in Long Beach, led by junior Darhian Mills who got the overall victory today, going 1-2 with teammate Carly Lester, with Morganne Hill fifth and Karlee Stueckle eighth.
Mills ran a new career-best, her first since the 2017 season, as she ran 58.35 seconds to move up to the No. 8 spot in school history and it also puts her 16th nationally this season and second in the Pac-12. Lester had a season-best time of 59.26 seconds, while Hill ran 1:00.27 and Stueckle went 1:01.19. The Dawgs also had a third-place finish on the men's side from freshman Cass Elliott who went 52.28. Darhian Mills got the victory at the Beach Invite and ran a 400m hurdles PR of 58.35 seconds
Gruver got back on the runway for the first time since her NCAA Outdoor Record from March 29. The senior went high once again, beating a very strong field with a big clearance of 15-3 1/2 that she made on her third attempt. That's the second-highest make of Gruver's career outdoors. She then raised the bar to 15-7 1/4 which would have been an inch above her record, but missed on three tries today.
The Husky sprints crew racked up numerous PRs today as well, starting in the 400-meters. Senior Imani Apostol ran 54.96 for a personal-best and finished fifth overall, while Sarah Stavig clocked a PR of 56.21.
On the men's side, Evan Mafilas was the overall runner-up, as he broke 47-seconds for the first time in his career, going 46.90. Jason Palmer got himself a PR of 48.29 to finish 11th overall.
In the 200-meters, Apostol returned and ran her fastest time ever, going 24.19, just slightly over the legal tailwind at +2.3, while Ribera had a wind-legal 24.93 time just .01 off her PR. Heath also ran 25.13.
Mafilas notched his second PR of the day in the 200m as he crossed in 21.27. Santana ran 21.32 just .01 off his PR while Palmer dropped four-tenths from his 200m PR, running 21.58
It wasn't just Mason throwing well for the Dawgs today, as sophomore Jonah Wilson had another big toss in the shot put, going over 64-feet for the second time. He threw 64-1 1/4 today to take eighth in an outstanding field that included multiple NCAA Champions. Jose Padilla went 54-6 1/2 in the shot. Wilson also threw 170-5 in the discus.
On the women's side, redshirt freshman Ginny Mehl broke into the Husky records for the first time, as she PR'd in the discus at 163-3, going to the No. 9 spot in school history. Onyie Chibuogwu, one day after her hammer throw school record, threw 156-5 in the discus.
In the jumps, Jelani Heath got a season's-best in the women's long jump, going 19-2 3/4, while Sam Richmond PR'd on the men's side, with a best of 23-9. Sophomore Jaylen Taylor posted a best of 48-7 1/2 in the triple jump.
Cardinal ClassicEmily Hamlin moved into the top-15 nationally this season with a 10:08.30 in the steeplechase.
The Husky distance crew wrapped up a strong two days at Stanford with several more NCAA Prelim qualifiers tonight.
Up first was the steeplechase, and senior Emily Hamlin put her name high up on the NCAA rankings this season with a great time of 10:08.30, the second-fastest of her career. That will rank the 2018 NCAA semifinalist 12th in the nation this season. Redshirt freshman Shona McCulloch cut her steeple PR down to 10:41.83 in the same race.
The men's steeplers made quite a splash, as Julius Diehr, Alex Slenning, and Nick Laccinole all posted big career-bests. Diehr knocked seven seconds off his PR to take third in 8:52.29. Slenning, in just his third career steeplechase, had a 15-second PR in 8:53.96, and Laccinole, in just his second steeplechase, PR'd by 23 seconds in 8:55.53. All will likely lock up NCAA West Prelim bids with those times.
Mick Stanovsek was third in the men's 1,500-meter invite, getting a likely Regional qualifying mark of 3:44.43. Nate Beamer posted a time of 3:46.99, while redshirt freshman Isaac Green had his best race yet as a Husky, running a PR of 3:47.54.
The nigh closed out with the 10,000-meters, and the Huskies got one last top-10 mark out of it. Gavin Parpart took on the distance for the first time on the track, and picked up the 10th-fastest time in school history in 29:17.39. Running with him the whole way was Andrew Snyder, as Snyder ran a PR of his own in 29:23.43. Both times should also wind up as Regional qualifiers.
