Elliott Rolls To Record, Vaulters And Jumpers Soar

Saturday, January 28

Seattle, WA

All Day

University of Washington

UW Invitational

January 28, 2023 | Track & Field

Complete Results PDF Complete Results on TFRRS

By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – Cass Elliott showed the strength and endurance that made him the Pac-12 400-meter hurdles champion last spring and applied it to the 800-meters tonight, breaking the Washington indoor school record in the event as one of the big highlights from Saturday's array of action at the UW Invitational.

Along with Elliott's school record, the Huskies had eight event wins, eleven more runner-up finishes, and especially outstanding marks from the pole vault pit and the long jump runway inside the Dempsey.

Elliott has focused on the 800-meters indoors the past few seasons, helping the Husky distance medley relay with the 800-meter leg, then transitioning to the 400m hurdles outdoors. Early runs this year prove he has a shot as an individual NCAA qualifier indoors, as he ran a 600m Dempsey Record two weeks ago, and followed that today with a 1:47.22 to break Izaic Yorks' 2016 indoor school record of 1:47.89. Yorks also had his mile school record broken by four of UW's eight sub-four milers Friday night, so it was a tough weekend atop the records for the former Husky All-American.

Elliott is now up to No. 4 in the NCAA this season.

The women's 800-meters also produced some fireworks, as Pac-12 Champ Carley Thomas ran the distance for the first time this season and won in 2:03.64, going to sixth in the NCAA rankings. Right behind Thomas was junior Marlena Preigh, who PR'd by more than a second with a time of 2:04.95 that moves her to No. 2 in UW history behind Thomas, and to No. 14 in the NCAA. Freshman Chloe Foerster also kept pace with the veterans, placing sixth in 2:06.12, now the No. 6 time in school history in her first time racing the 800m in college. Six of the top-seven women's 800-meter times in school history are held by current Huskies.

Guys, don't hurt him, he's an 18-foot vaulter now! ????

Jacob Englar's second ???? of the day and third this season launched him to third in UW history at 18-1 1/4 with only NCAA Champions Brad Walker and Scott Roth in front of him ??

What a first two meets ??#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/42LtljyN2M
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) January 29, 2023

Three transfers continued to make huge impacts for the Huskies in the pole vault in just their first month in purple. The men's vault was up first, and Jacob Englar cleared two more career-bests, making for three PRs now since the defending Pac-12 Champ crossed Apple Cup lines over from Pullman. Englar first made 17-11 ¼ on a third attempt, and then upped the ante again by getting a third-attempt make at 18-1 ¼, the first 18-foot make of his career. That puts Englar up to No. 3 in UW's prestigious history of vaulting, as only NCAA Champions Brad Walker and Scott Roth have gone higher indoors, and Englar now has a better indoor PR than 2016 NCAA Indoor Champ Jax Thoirs. He also ranks 10th nationally now.

In the women's invite pole vault, new Huskies Nastassja Campbell and Sara Borton matched each other for the second meet in a row, both going over 14-feet once again, and this time improving their season's-bests to 14-2 ¾. That puts Borton and Campbell to a tie for seventh in the NCAA this season, and also a tie for fifth in school history.

The freshman duo of Sarah Ferguson and Avril Wilson keep attacking high bars as well, as they both made 13-5 ¼ and had great attempts at 13-11. Adding in Friday night's clearances from Ashleigh Helms (13-5 ¾) and Holland Pilukas (13-1 ¾) and the Huskies had six women over 13-feet in one meet, with two over 14-feet. It will be a good fit for Amanda and Hana Moll, as the UW commits and record-setting high school seniors took the top two spots in the competition today, with Hana making 14-10 ¾, and Amanda clearing 14-6 ¾.

The Huskies won both long jumps with new top-10 marks from Ida Eikeng and Prestin Artis. Eikeng managed to find another top-10 list she wasn't on yet, as she had the best indoor long jump of her career, and just a centimeter off her outdoor PR, as she went 19-7 ½ to get the win and go to a tie for sixth in school history.

Artis soared to a second-straight PR in his second Dempsey meet since joining the squad. He went 25-2 ½ today to keep himself in the hunt for an NCAA Indoor bid. That puts him alone in fourth all-time in school history. UW men went 1-2-3 in the long jump, as Tim Luebbert had a big PR with a leap of 23-2 ½. Decathlete Jami Schlueter also leaped a PR of 22-11 ¼.

Sprint highlights included a 1-2 finish from Jonathan Birchman and Matthew Wilkinson in the men's 400-meters, with Birchman turning in a lifetime-best time of 47.76. Freshman Anna Terrell cut two seconds off her 400m time from two weeks ago, going 57.78 to place sixth overall. In the women's 200-meters, Danielle Hunter was seventh in a season-best 25.17, and Rhonda Newton was 11th in a SB of 25.77.

Distance events brought more top-10 marks as Sophie O'Sullivan ran the first indoor 3k of her career and went to No. 6 in school history with a runner-up finish in 9:03.91. O'Sullivan has now written her name into the Husky recordbooks in the 800-meters, mile and 3,000-meters so far this indoor season. Andrea Markezich ran 9:28.82 and Naomi Smith clocked 9:29.30 with freshman Sophie Nordenholz racing unattached but impressing at 9:24.69.

Long Jump on ?? today

Ida found one Top-10 she wasn't on yet and fixed that. Her winning jump today put her 6th all-time.

Prestin, Tim, and Jami went 1?2?3? in the men's long jump, all with PRs#GoHuskies x #HuskyPRs pic.twitter.com/2Hx52HNGrJ
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) January 29, 2023

MaKayla Kelby earned herself a second-straight win in the women's shot put today, tossing 53-7 ¾, while redshirt freshman Kaia Tupu-South took second at 52-11 ½. Eikeng had a shot put of 44-3 ¼ for sixth. In the men's shot, Schlueter had a big PR of 45-8 ½ to go with his long jump PR. Ollie Thorner also had a shot PR of 43-0 ¼.