Four Season-Bests For Four Huskies At Stanford

Thursday, May 2

Stanford, CA

6:00 PM

University of Washington

Payton Jordan Invitational

Photo by: Scott Eklund / Red Box Pictures

May 02, 2019 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

PALO ALTO, Calif. – A Husky quartet traveled back down to Stanford tonight to tune up for the postseason at the prestigious Payton Jordan Invitational. All four Dawgs came away with season-bests tonight.

First up was senior Emily Hamlin in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Looking to sharpen up for a run at a return to the NCAA Outdoor meet, Hamlin ran a season-best time of 10:05.79 to finish as the sixth collegiate runner in a field that included the defending NCAA Champion. It's the second-fastest steeplechase time of Hamlin's career and she'll remain ranked in the top-20 nationally this season.

Next was sophomore Allie Schadler in the 1,500-meters. Looking to break 4:20 for the first time, Schadler did that and more, making a key move early to go after the leader, Lauren Gregory of Arkansas, and Schadler stayed strong and clear of traffic to take second-place just a second behind Gregory but with nearly a four-second PR of 4:16.57. That moves Schadler from 53rd in the NCAA up into the top-20 based on marks entering the weekend. It was also less than a second out of the Husky top-10 list.

Mick Stanovsek was next to race, taking on an outstanding men's 1,500-meters heat led by Olympic medalist Clayton Murphy. Stanovsek ran his fastest time as a Dawg with a finish of 3:41.20, a three-second season-best. That also moved Stanovsek into the Husky 1,500-meters top-10 list up to the No. 5 spot.

Lastly, Izzi Batt-Doyle navigated another 5,000-meters in a field packed with Olympians and the top current collegiate runners. The pace slowed and the field bunched up for much of the middle part of the race before a blazing last three laps. Batt-Doyle was able to take a couple seconds off her season-best down to 15:41.36, the fifth collegiate finisher in the race.

Batt-Doyle, who ranks fifth in school history with that outdoor 5k PR, was joined by former teammate and 2018 grad Amy-Eloise Neale, who had a great finish to run a PR of 15:21.58, taking third overall, and getting under the World Championships standard of 15:22.00. Another UW great, Husky Hall of Famer Mel Lawrence, had a huge 5k PR in 15:24.69 for seventh overall. Neale set the UW record in the 5k last year while Lawrence now ranks 10th with a mark she set now 10 years ago in 2009. Lawrence also holds the UW record in the steeplechase.

Washington will host the Ken Shannon Invitational this Saturday at Husky Outdoor Track with field events starting at 10 a.m. and running events at 1 p.m.