Huskies Both Take Third At MPSFs, Best In 13 Years

Saturday, February 29

Seattle, WA

10:00 AM

University of Washington

MPSF Championships

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

February 29, 2020 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

Complete Results in PDF Format

SEATTLE – Led by a sweep of the men's and women's 3k titles, the Husky track and field squads each had their best finish at the MPSF Championships in over a dozen years. The UW men and women both finished third in the final standings as the Dempsey Indoor season came to a close and the Huskies will wait and see who makes the final cut for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

The third-place finish for the men's team was its best at the indoor conference meet since Washington won the 2007 title. Since then the Huskies had never finished higher than fifth on the men's side. The women's third-place finish was its best in 15 years, since a third-place finish in 2005.

The MPSF encompasses all Pac-12 track and field teams plus several more from the Big West and West Coast Conferences. The Oregon women's squad earned the win today while the BYU men got its second-straight team title.

The indoor season will peak with the NCAA Indoor Championships, set for March 13-14 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The top-16 athletes in every event make the cut. This weekend, Washington looks to potentially have added Hannah Rusnak in the pentathlon, Mick Stanovsek in the mile, and Allie Schadler in the 3,000-meters to its group bound for NCAAs.

It's a Husky 3k Sweep! ??????

Tanner Anderson makes a late move to win the men's 3k MPSF ?? in 7:58.34, a PR and the #?7? mark in school history!#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/CDlO5OoEZO
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) February 29, 2020

On the final day in the Dempsey, the Huskies were led on the track by wins from Haley Herberg and Tanner Anderson in the women's and men's 3,000-meter finals, along with a great day from Aaliyah Wilson in the women's sprint finals, and multiple scorers in the 800-meter runs.

Field standouts included Parker Kennedy and Ollie Thorner, who both PR'd in the heptathlon to finish fourth and fifth overall. Jaylen Taylor was fourth in the triple jump and Angel Nkwonta took fifth in the women's shot.

Sprints

Sophomore Aaliyah Wilson was one of just two sprinters to reach the finals in both the 60-meter dash and the 60-meter hurdles. First up in the hurdles final, Wilson finished fifth overall despite coming in seeded eighth, with a time of 8.39 seconds, her second-best of the year.

In the 60-meter dash final later in the day, after running a big PR in Friday's prelim of 7.32, Wilson shaved another hundredth off and won her heat in a time of 7.31 seconds, which would end up third-place overall, and improves her No. 2 time in UW history. All told her third and fifth-place finishes earned 10 team points for the cause.

Aaliyah Wilson added a ?? in the 60 dash to her 5th-place hurdles finish as she scores ?? points for the Dawgs today!

She lowered her PR by .01 to 7.31??#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/EaZU0EqtYf
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) February 29, 2020

Olivia Ribera and Imani Apostol both posted big season-bests in the 400-meter finals, with Ribera clocking a major PR. The sophomore finished 10th overall in a field that saw an NCAA-leading time and Dempsey record from USC's Bailey Lear of 51.60. Ribera ran 55.12 today, which moves her up to No. 5 in school history indoors. Apostol was 13th overall with a season-best of 55.48 in her final Dempsey appearance.

Evan Mafilas went 48.40 to finish 15th in the men's 400-meters, and Jason Palmer ran 48.87 to finish 23rd overall.

Mid-Distances

The 800-meters were big on both sides for the Dawgs. The women saw consecutive heat victories from sophomore Kelly Makin and freshman Marlena Preigh. Makin ran a PR of 2:08.83 to win her heat, and then Preigh cut over a second off her best with a win in 2:06.81 which would hold up for fifth-place overall. Also in Preigh's heat, redshirt frosh Madison Heisterman went 2:08.19 for another PR as she finished 11th overall. Preigh's time moves her up to fifth in school history and Heisterman also climbed one spot from 10th to 9th in the recordbooks.

On the men's side, the Huskies put three in the top-eight, led by Devan Kirk. The junior ran an indoor PR of 1:50.13 to take fourth overall. Freshman Daniel Maton was sixth in 1:51.06 and sophomore Cass Elliott was eighth in 1:51.74.

In the mile, senior Dustin Nading got fourth-place points with a time of 4:01.87. Anna Gibson knocked five more seconds off her collegiate best and grabbed a point in eighth with a time of 4:44.16.

Distances

In the women's 3k, sophomore Haley Herberg became the first Husky woman to win the MPSF title since Megan Goethals in 2011. She ran behind teammate Shona McCulloch for the first part of the race then took the lead only to be passed with a lap to go by Portland's Anna Pataki. But Herberg countered on the last lap and retook the lead and held on to win in 9:19.28. McCulloch wound up 10th in 9:32.50.

Senior Tanner Anderson also made a pass of a Portland runner on the final lap to win his 3,000-meter title in a new lifetime-best of 7:58.34. That time moves Anderson back into the Husky 3k top-10 list at No. 7. It's the first MPSF men's 3k title ever by a Husky.

??????

The 3k ?? goes to Haley Herberg! She grabs ?? big points for the Dawgs and is the first Husky to win the MPSF 3k since 2011#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/yZjOuvcglO
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) February 29, 2020

Jumps/Multis

The culmination of the two-day heptathlon was the big highlight today. Parker Kennedy and Ollie Thorner each added a hundred more points to their career-bests and finished fourth and fifth, respectively. For the second-straight multi, they also wrapped up the final 1,000-meter run side by side in first and second.

Kennedy's first day was highlighted by a massive PR in the long jump. On his second attempt, he had a seven-inch PR to 22-11, but on his next jump he added eight more inches, winning the event at 23-7 1/2. He also set a PR in the shot put with a toss of 42-11 1/2.

Thorner's day one started with a 60-meter dash PR of 7.18 seconds, then he had a six-inch long jump PR of his own at 22-0 1/4. He ended the day taking third in the high jump at 6-5.

Today, Thorner ran 8.61 in the 60m hurdles while Parker ran 8.91. The two then both had season-bests in the pole vault. Kennedy made 15-9 and Thorner cleared 15-5. Their winning times in the final 1,000-meters were 2:38.75 for Kennedy and 2:38.86 for Thorner, both PRs.

Kennedy would finish fourth overall with 5,487 points, moving him up to No. 2 in school history. Thorner was just behind with 5,445 points, making him now No. 4 all-time at UW.

The other big scorer today in the jumps was junior Jaylen Taylor who took fourth in the triple jump. Taylor was sixth before his final attempt, but he improved to 49-2 1/4 to move up two spots.

In the high jump, junior Bryce Fausset just missed out on scoring but he got a season-best clearance, making 6-9 3/4, and just missing his third attempt at 6-11.

Throws

Just the women's shot put featured Huskies today, with Angel Nkwonta tallying more points after her runner-up weight throw finish from Friday. Nkwonta tossed 50-feet, 2-inches on her second attempt and finished in fifth-place. Redshirt frosh Makayla Kelby had a pair of fouls around one fair mark of 48-feet and she just missed out on the final today.