Records For Gruver, Nkwonta As Dawgs Open Strong

Saturday, January 18

Seattle, WA

8:45 AM

University of Washington

UW Indoor Preview

University of Washington track team hosts the 2020 Indoor Preview at the Dempsey Center on Saturday, January 18, 2020, in Seattle.

Photo by: Stephen Brashear / Red Box Pictures

January 18, 2020 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

Complete Results in PDF Format | Results on TFRRS

SEATTLE – It didn't take long for Washington to get its first school record of the 2020 track and field season, as Angel Nkwonta launched the weight over 66-feet to break an 11-year-old record. Later in the day, all the attention of the thousands of athletes and fans in the Dempsey Indoor turned towards senior Olivia Gruver, as the extraordinary pole vaulter launched herself to a new facility record and one of the highest clearances in NCAA history.

The pair of school records came at the UW Indoor Preview, where Husky athletes won a total of 10 out of the 32 events and also put 10 new marks into the Washington indoor top-10 lists. The Dempsey also witnessed its 200th sub-four-minute mile today, and it just so happened to come from a Husky, as Mick Stanovsek went under the milestone for the second time as a Husky and sixth in his career.

Gruver, a two-time NCAA Champion at Kentucky before transferring to Washington in 2019, was competing at her first indoor meet in a Husky uniform. She redshirted the 2019 indoor season and then broke the NCAA Outdoor pole vault record last spring, clearing 15-6 1/4 at the Stanford Invitational. Gruver just missed a chance for a third-straight NCAA outdoor title last year, but showed she's back in top form today.

Washington's Olivia Gruver cleared 15-3 1/2 (4??.6??6??m) in the women's pole vault claiming...

??NCAA Lead
??Facility Record
??Ties World Leading
??Tied for No. 3 all-time #ncaaTF pic.twitter.com/oFr8OpF0h8
— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) January 19, 2020

Gruver did not enter the competition until every other vaulter in the field had gone out. She then came in and cleared 13-11 3/4 on her first attempt. From there she needed a second try to clear 14-5 1/4, a mark that virtually assured her of qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships in March, one title she has yet to win. Gruver then asked for the bar to go to 14-11 1/2, and on her third attempt she made that one, which officially broke the UW indoor school record of 14-7 1/4 set in 2016 by Olympian Diamara Planell Cruz.

Next, Gruver went to 15-3 1/2, half an inch higher than the Dempsey record set just last year by Katie Nageotte, who finished seventh at last year's World Championships for Team USA. Gruver flew up and over that bar on her second attempt and for the first time really seemed to celebrate. That clearance ties her for the world lead so far in 2020 and is the NCAA leader by over eight inches.

The next bar would have broken the NCAA Indoor record, which is slightly higher than Gruver's current outdoor mark, at 15-7. Gruver took three shots at 15-7 1/4, and her second attempt was nearly good, but she just caught the bar on her way over.

"My first meet back I wasn't expecting anything big … but as long as I qualified for Nationals I was happy with it," said Gruver. "But setting those records so soon, you can't beat that! Jumping (at 4.76-meters) so early in the season feels amazing, it just tells me that everything in my fall training has been working out. Only up from here."

120781

Nkwonta made a long-awaited return to the weight throw where she set the UW Freshman Record two years ago at 63-0 1/4. She only competed once indoors last year and didn't throw the weight, so today in her first weight throw in almost two years, she broke the school record on her first attempt, throwing 66-0 1/4. That mark broke the record of 65-8 3/4 set by Elisa Bryant in 2009.

The women's team "across the board had something in each event area that was pretty exciting," said Director of Track & Field Maurica Powell. "I thought the whole group was dialed in and people were getting around to all the events. It's hard during the season, we practice at all different times, some are outside and some are inside, and it's always fun when everyone is together at the same time and you get to see each other shine. Like the Dempsey stopped and everyone watched Olivia Gruver vault, and that was awesome."

After Gruver, the most meaningful mark towards NCAA Championship qualification came from senior Katie Rainsberger, who delivered another in a long line of great efforts as she was the second collegiate finisher in a loaded women's 3,000-meter fast heat. Rainsberger moved up from third to second on the Husky 3k top-10 list with a time of 9:01.88, which will be a very strong contender for the top-16 when it's time to sort out NCAA qualifiers.

"Angel's school record was awesome and just a great early season mark for her," Powell said. "Coach Ninow has done a really nice job working with her. Olivia Ribera ran her first ever 400's and she did great. Some of our unattached kids were really great; Ida Eikeng was fun to watch and she's going to be really exciting for us outdoors when she suits up. On the distance side, Marlena Preigh running 1:30 as a freshman was good, Allie Schadler and Haley Herberg going 1-2 in their 3k heat in big PRs was great. Then we had two strong NCAA marks in Gruver and Rainsberger, which has come to be what we expect of them. It can be easy to gloss over that, but if you come out and knock it down on day one, that's a good thing."

The men's team had a string of victories today, starting with a freshman in his first collegiate track race. Sam Tanner, a sub-four-minute miler out of New Zealand, was in the second of three heats of the 1,000-meters, but Tanner's heat-winning time of 2:21.78 was faster than heat one, which included 2016 U.S. Olympian Ben Blankenship.

From there the men picked up victories from sophomore Cass Elliott in the 600-meters, junior Evan Mafilas in the 400-meters, Chase Smith in the pole vault, Jaylen Taylor in the triple jump, Jonah Wilson competing unattached in the shot put, and finishing up with a win in the 4x400-meter relay.

Head Coach Andy Powell liked what he saw from the men's group in the season-opener.

"It was the best opener I've hard as a coach in a long time. A lot of PRs," said Andy Powell. "I know we have a young team but there were so many people PR'ing or winning races. A lot will be high up on the national list as well across the board. It's early but it's impressive. I think we have a good chemistry and credit to our coaches, they kept talking about the fall that the athletes put in and the winter break that they had, and this is the first time to come out and show the hard work. It's nice to see the reward for that."

Sprints

The first new top-10 mark of the 2020 season came from sophomore Aaliyah Wilson, who PR'd in the 60-meter hurdles qualifying round in a time of 8.56 seconds to move up one spot to No. 9 on the Husky top-10 list.

Redshirt freshman Ida Eikeng, competing unattached until this coming outdoor season, flashed her talent by getting the win in the 60-meter hurdles final. Eikeng, a heptathlete, clocked an impressive 8.24 time in the final, which would rank third in Husky history if run in uniform. Fellow multi athlete Lyndsey Lopes, also competing unattached until the outdoor season, made the final and ran 8.53 seconds.

Junior Olivia Ribera moved up to the 400-meters for the first time and ran well, finishing sixth overall in a time of 56.10. Senior Imani Apostol had the top time on the squad in the 200-meters at 25.33.

The men's sprints were highlighted by the 400-meter win for Evan Mafilas, who opened his season with a time of 48.33 seconds. Mafilas then closed out the night by anchoring the men's 4x400-meter relay to the win in 3:14.12, holding off UCLA the entire final leg. The relay was made up of Jason Palmer, Devan Kirk, Cass Elliott, and Mafilas. Mafilas also led UW with a 21.88 time in the 200-meters, while Palmer ran a 400-meter opener of 49.14. Senior Khalil Winfrey opened with 22.25 in the 200-meters and a 6.91 in the 60-meters.

Mid-Distances

The UW Indoor Preview annually features 600-meter and 1,000-meter distances to let athletes tune-up or test themselves before focusing on the standard NCAA Championship distances. Three underclassmen ran well in the women's 600-meters today, led by true freshman Marlena Preigh who took second in a time of 1:30.79, followed closely by redshirt freshman Madison Heisterman in 1:31.77. Kelly Makin was fifth in the top heat in 1:33.74

Sophomore Cass Elliott had a wire-to-wire win in the men's 600-meters. He powered to the line in 1:18.67, the second-fastest time at the distance in school history. Devan Kirk took second in heat two in a time of 1:20.29.

Freshman Daniel Maton made his official NCAA debut in the 800-meters, opening well with a time of 1:51.77 to finish fourth overall.

Along with Tanner's victory in the men's 1,000-meters, senior Sam Ritz opened up with a time of 2:24.26.

The mile saw the All-American Stanovsek put himself into the early mix of NCAA contenders once again. Entering today's meet, 141 different men had combined to break the four-minute mile barrier 197 times inside the Dempsey. Stanovsek would wind up being Mr. 200, as two professional runners, Ben Blankenship and Brannon Kidder, went sub-four in first and second-places, while Stanovsek was the top collegiate finisher and third overall in 3:59.58.

Freshman Luke Houser had a strong mile opener with a time of 4:04.54, and sophomore Isaac Green ran 4:06.10.

#??2??0??0?? goes to a Husky!

Mick Stanovsek runs 3:59.58 and posts the 200th sub-four mile in Dempsey Indoor history!!#GoHuskies x #Dempsey2020 pic.twitter.com/1DkpX4LV8O
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) January 18, 2020

Jumps/Vault

Gruver wasn't the only winner for the women's jumps crew. Junior Jelani Heath grabbed a victory in the long jump with a best of 18-9 3/4. Eikeng also had a best jump of 18-3 3/4 while Lopes went over to the high jump and she cleared 5-7 today on a first attempt before calling it a day in that event.

Also in the vault, sophomore Makenna Barton had a couple third-attempt clearances in a row to open with a 12-11 3/4 clearance. Freshman Ashleigh Helms made a great first impression with a 12-6 clearance.

Senior All-American Chase Smith gave the Huskies a pole vault sweep with a big win on the men's side. Smith made 17-5 on a third attempt which ranks him 11th in the NCAA in the early-going. Senior Zach Shugart took fourth with a clearance of 16-7 1/4, the highest mark he's made since 2018.

Bryce Fausset got a win in his flight of the high jump with a make of 6-8 3/4. That mark was especially gratifying, as Fausset last made that height as a freshman back in 2017, before enduring two years of injury frustration before he began to work his way back at the end of the 2019 outdoor season.

Another win came from Jaylen Taylor in the triple jump, and he PR'd in the process. Taylor, the Pac-12 third-place finisher last year, extended his indoor best today to 49-7 1/4 on his very first attempt to get the win. It also moves him up one spot on the Husky top-10 to No. 7. Sam Richmond finished seventh overall in the long jump today with a best of 22-6 1/2.

Throws

Nkwonta followed up her weight throw school record with an indoor shot put PR, throwing 47-1, which gets her to No. 10 on that top-10 list. But just ahead of her now is redshirt freshman Makayla Kelby, as Kelby made her official debut and took fourth-place with a best toss of 47-7 1/4 which is good for eighth in school history after just one meet.

Also debuting for the women was freshman Beatrice Asomaning, who threw the weight for the first time and tossed 50-10. Ginny Mehl also had a weight throw PR of 47-2 1/2.

The men's throwers were highlighted by Jonah Wilson, even though he will be redshirting the indoor season. He still got the win today wearing a slightly lighter shade of purple than usual. Wilson was over 19-meters on five attempts and his best tied the best of his career, going 64-feet, 7.25-inches. That would have been the No. 2 mark in school history indoors if done in uniform.

In the weight throw, senior Connor Jost was just an inch off his personal-best, as he finished third overall with a best of 59-9 on his fifth attempt. Sophomore Elijah Mason threw 59-5 1/2 to finish fifth overall.