Saturday, May 13
Walnut, CA
All Day
University of Washington
vs
Pac-12 Championships
Huskies Add Three More Pac-12 Titles On Day Two
May 13, 2023 | Track & Field
2023 Pac-12 Championships
May 12-14 | Walnut, Calif. | Hilmer Lodge Stadium
Event Schedule PDF | Pac-12 Homepage | Live Results
WALNUT, Calif. – Washington Track & Field is through two days of the Pac-12 Championships in fine shape and positioned for a heck of a finishing kick on Sunday. The Huskies lead the team races on both the men's and women's sides, and have ample amounts of scoring opportunities left tomorrow when the championships finish at Hilmer Lodge Stadium. Washington is looking to win its first ever Pac-12 Track title.
Keeping the Dawgs leading the pack today were a trio of titles, as Ollie Thorner won the Pac-12 men's decathlon title, Ed Trippas cruised to a win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and Nastassja Campbell and Sara Borton tied for the women's pole vault title, earning co-Champion honors. UW added five more podium finishes in addition to the three titles today.
The Husky men's team heads into the final day on Sunday with 68 points, leading Arizona which has 53, and USC which has 44 in third. The Husky women also lead with 60.5 points, while Oregon is second with 55 and California third with 33.
Sunday's final day will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks starting at 1 p.m.
Multis Complete Two-Day Points Haul
Entering day two of the decathlon ranked 1-2-3, Jami Schlueter, Bruno Comin Pescador, and Ollie Thorner resumed their mission to hang a huge point tally for the team.
In the 110m hurdles, Schlueter got the event win in 14.52, with Comin Pescador third in 14.73, and Thorner taking fifth in a career-best time of 15.13.
Thorner added another PR in the discus throw, as he took third overall at 143-5. Comin Pescador was fourth in that event at 134-5, and Schlueter was sixth throwing 123-10.
Event eight, the pole vault, saw Thorner and Comin Pescador each clear 15-3 ¾ to tie for second, while Schlueter got up and over 14-4 to finish tied for sixth in that event. Then in the javelin, all three Dawgs threw between 171 and 178 feet to keep marching forward.
Going into the final 1,500-meters, the three Huskies trailed Oregon's Rafael Raap for the top spot. Thorner was closest, down by 66 points, and the 1,500-meters is one of his strongest events, so he stepped to the starting line ready to go all-out.
Thorner went straight to the lead and opened up a big gap on the field, needing to finish at least 7-8 seconds ahead of Raap. By lap three he had built that lead and kept extending, and his final lap was essentially a victory lap. Thorner would win the final run in 4:22.35, with Raap twenty seconds behind.
Thorner finished with a career-best score of 7,761 points to become the first Husky decathlon conference champion since Jeremy Taiwo in 2011. Comin Pescador took third overall with 7,611 points, and Schlueter was fourth with 7,545, as the three combined to score 21 team points. They also all likely secured NCAA Outdoor Championship spots, and they now rank No. 4, No. 6, and No. 7 all-time in school history.
On the women's side, day two of the heptathlon began for Ida Eikeng in the long jump. She had two fair jumps but they were shorter than 19-feet, so she was looking for a big improvement on her third, and she got it, pushing out to 19-9 ½.
Last night, Eikeng was fourth in the open javelin final, so she was as usual the heavy favorite in the heptathlon javelin, and she easily won that event with a strong throw of 167-6. Eikeng held a lead going into the final 800-meters, but her least favorite event dropped her into second-place as she ran a 2:37.97. That still wound up pushing Eikeng past her PR and School Record, as she finished with 6,114 points, but the NCAA leader, Allie Jones of USC, took the title. Eikeng will try to reverse the order next month at NCAA Outdoors.
Steeple People
The night's two track finals were the 3,000-meter steeplechases. The men's race didn't go exactly as scripted for the Huskies, as Joe Waskom, one of the top contenders for the title, lost a shoe early in the race and he was forced to drop out while he was leading. Waskom has the 1,500m final tomorrow, and the steeplechase is the last event one wants to run shoeless.
But Ed Trippas kept his wits, and his shoes, about him, and the UW school record-holder made a big surge with two laps to go to effectively decide the race. He built a lead of 20-meters that he'd hold until he crossed the finish line first in 8:37.26.
Trippas makes it two-straight steeple wins for the Huskies on the men's side, as Brian Fay won the title a year ago.
In the women's race, Kayley DeLay reached the podium as well, taking third-place in a time of 9:54.77 for six team points.
Pole Vault Dominance Continues
No Pac-12 event has been dominated by the Dawgs quite like the women's pole vault in recent years. That continued today, but with a new twist, as Nastassja Campbell and Sara Borton shared the title. They're the first co-champs in the history of the event, as the two matched each other exactly on makes and misses up to the winning height of 14-3 ¼.
Although Borton entered the competition at a lower bar than Campbell, she was clean over each height, clearing 12-9 ½ and 13-3 ½ before Campbell also came in, and they both had first-attempt makes at 13-7 ¼ and then at 13-11 ¼.
At that point it was the two Dawgs and Amari Turner of California. At 14-3 ¼, all three vaulters missed their first two tries. Turner was first in the order, and she suffered a third miss. Campbell and Borton needed to clear or the three would go to a jump-off. But Campbell stepped up and cleared the bar with ease, letting out a yell on the way down. Borton then followed her teammate up and over, getting the first 14-foot clearance of her career outdoors.
Campbell at that point ended her competition, while Borton took three tries at 14-5 ¼, and had great attempts but brushed off the bar. As the tiebreak is based on makes and misses going up to the highest bar cleared, the two remained tied.
Washington has now won three-straight Pac-12 women's pole vault titles, including going 1-2 each of the past two years. The Huskies have also won the event in seven of the past nine championships now, dating back to 2014.
Also nabbing half a point was Ashleigh Helms, as she tied for eighth-place today making 13-3 ½. Freshman Sarah Ferguson also made 13-3 ½, but one additional miss on her sheet put her in 10th-place overall.
Throwers, Jumpers Thrive
The women's throwers beat the form chart in a big way today, highlighted by redshirt freshman Kaia Tupu-South jumping onto the podium in her first Pac-12 Championship competition.
Tupu-South, the New Zealand native, came in seeded sixth in the shot put, but she delivered the two best throws of her outdoor season, going 54-11 ¼ in round three, and then connecting on a 55-7 ¾ toss in the fifth round, to finish in third-place overall. Her new outdoor PR moves her up to No. 2 in school history.
MaKayla Kelby made it two Dawgs in the top-five, as she was fifth for the third year in a row in the shot. Kelby had a best of 53-9 ¾ on her second attempt. She did not take her final three throws today.
The Dawgs got a boost in the first final of the day, as Beatrice Asomaning had a huge career-best series of hammer throws. Asomaning came into the event seeded just twelfth, but she tossed two early PRs to lead after flight one, with a mark of 186-0, and after waiting through the higher-seeded flight two, Asomaning was in the mix of the final nine throwers.
In the final, Asomaning would PR two more times, going 187-11 and then 190-2 in round five, holding on to her seventh-place standing to earn two big team points. She also moved up two more spots today to No. 3 on the Husky top-10 list, adding just under seven feet to her PR coming into the day.
The Dawgs put two into the men's long jump final today, as Tim Luebbert burst out of the gate with a huge leap of 24-6 ½. It was wind-aided but an all-conditions PR. Prestin Artis got a third-attempt leap of 24-5 ¾ as the two moved into the final round in eighth- and ninth-place, respectively. Luebbert had another strong leap of 24-6 ¼ on his final round, but would finish just out of the points in ninth-place. But Artis came through huge in the clutch, as on his sixth and final jump, he soared to 25-2 ¾, a wind-aided season-best, and that jumped him from ninth all the way up to fourth in the final standings. Artis collected five points for the finish at his first Pac-12 Championships.
Prelims Done And Dusted
A few more Huskies booked tickets to Sunday's final rounds on the track.
In the 800-meters, UW came away with the fastest times in both the men's and women's prelims.
Sam Ellis won his first heat in 1:50.05, more than a second in front of second-place. Defending women's champ Carley Thomas then won her heat in a time of 2:04.88.
May 12-14 | Walnut, Calif. | Hilmer Lodge Stadium
Event Schedule PDF | Pac-12 Homepage | Live Results
WALNUT, Calif. – Washington Track & Field is through two days of the Pac-12 Championships in fine shape and positioned for a heck of a finishing kick on Sunday. The Huskies lead the team races on both the men's and women's sides, and have ample amounts of scoring opportunities left tomorrow when the championships finish at Hilmer Lodge Stadium. Washington is looking to win its first ever Pac-12 Track title.
Keeping the Dawgs leading the pack today were a trio of titles, as Ollie Thorner won the Pac-12 men's decathlon title, Ed Trippas cruised to a win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and Nastassja Campbell and Sara Borton tied for the women's pole vault title, earning co-Champion honors. UW added five more podium finishes in addition to the three titles today.
The Husky men's team heads into the final day on Sunday with 68 points, leading Arizona which has 53, and USC which has 44 in third. The Husky women also lead with 60.5 points, while Oregon is second with 55 and California third with 33.
Sunday's final day will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks starting at 1 p.m.
Multis Complete Two-Day Points Haul
Entering day two of the decathlon ranked 1-2-3, Jami Schlueter, Bruno Comin Pescador, and Ollie Thorner resumed their mission to hang a huge point tally for the team.
In the 110m hurdles, Schlueter got the event win in 14.52, with Comin Pescador third in 14.73, and Thorner taking fifth in a career-best time of 15.13.
Thorner added another PR in the discus throw, as he took third overall at 143-5. Comin Pescador was fourth in that event at 134-5, and Schlueter was sixth throwing 123-10.
Event eight, the pole vault, saw Thorner and Comin Pescador each clear 15-3 ¾ to tie for second, while Schlueter got up and over 14-4 to finish tied for sixth in that event. Then in the javelin, all three Dawgs threw between 171 and 178 feet to keep marching forward.
Going into the final 1,500-meters, the three Huskies trailed Oregon's Rafael Raap for the top spot. Thorner was closest, down by 66 points, and the 1,500-meters is one of his strongest events, so he stepped to the starting line ready to go all-out.
Thorner went straight to the lead and opened up a big gap on the field, needing to finish at least 7-8 seconds ahead of Raap. By lap three he had built that lead and kept extending, and his final lap was essentially a victory lap. Thorner would win the final run in 4:22.35, with Raap twenty seconds behind.
Thorner finished with a career-best score of 7,761 points to become the first Husky decathlon conference champion since Jeremy Taiwo in 2011. Comin Pescador took third overall with 7,611 points, and Schlueter was fourth with 7,545, as the three combined to score 21 team points. They also all likely secured NCAA Outdoor Championship spots, and they now rank No. 4, No. 6, and No. 7 all-time in school history.
The Pac-12's all-around ?? speaks!!
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) May 14, 2023
Ollie Thorner is the first Husky decathlon champion since 2011!#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/NSeDAs6bwE
On the women's side, day two of the heptathlon began for Ida Eikeng in the long jump. She had two fair jumps but they were shorter than 19-feet, so she was looking for a big improvement on her third, and she got it, pushing out to 19-9 ½.
Last night, Eikeng was fourth in the open javelin final, so she was as usual the heavy favorite in the heptathlon javelin, and she easily won that event with a strong throw of 167-6. Eikeng held a lead going into the final 800-meters, but her least favorite event dropped her into second-place as she ran a 2:37.97. That still wound up pushing Eikeng past her PR and School Record, as she finished with 6,114 points, but the NCAA leader, Allie Jones of USC, took the title. Eikeng will try to reverse the order next month at NCAA Outdoors.
Steeple People
The night's two track finals were the 3,000-meter steeplechases. The men's race didn't go exactly as scripted for the Huskies, as Joe Waskom, one of the top contenders for the title, lost a shoe early in the race and he was forced to drop out while he was leading. Waskom has the 1,500m final tomorrow, and the steeplechase is the last event one wants to run shoeless.
But Ed Trippas kept his wits, and his shoes, about him, and the UW school record-holder made a big surge with two laps to go to effectively decide the race. He built a lead of 20-meters that he'd hold until he crossed the finish line first in 8:37.26.
Trippas makes it two-straight steeple wins for the Huskies on the men's side, as Brian Fay won the title a year ago.
In the women's race, Kayley DeLay reached the podium as well, taking third-place in a time of 9:54.77 for six team points.
?????? Husky Pac-12 Champion ??????
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) May 14, 2023
Ed Trippas left the field in his wake to make it two Pac-12 steeple titles in a row for Washington.#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/sGg3RgfQlG
Pole Vault Dominance Continues
No Pac-12 event has been dominated by the Dawgs quite like the women's pole vault in recent years. That continued today, but with a new twist, as Nastassja Campbell and Sara Borton shared the title. They're the first co-champs in the history of the event, as the two matched each other exactly on makes and misses up to the winning height of 14-3 ¼.
Although Borton entered the competition at a lower bar than Campbell, she was clean over each height, clearing 12-9 ½ and 13-3 ½ before Campbell also came in, and they both had first-attempt makes at 13-7 ¼ and then at 13-11 ¼.
At that point it was the two Dawgs and Amari Turner of California. At 14-3 ¼, all three vaulters missed their first two tries. Turner was first in the order, and she suffered a third miss. Campbell and Borton needed to clear or the three would go to a jump-off. But Campbell stepped up and cleared the bar with ease, letting out a yell on the way down. Borton then followed her teammate up and over, getting the first 14-foot clearance of her career outdoors.
Campbell at that point ended her competition, while Borton took three tries at 14-5 ¼, and had great attempts but brushed off the bar. As the tiebreak is based on makes and misses going up to the highest bar cleared, the two remained tied.
Stassja is calling it now … a 5-way Husky tie for the pole vault title next season ?? … ??#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/N3PceujfPy
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) May 14, 2023
Washington has now won three-straight Pac-12 women's pole vault titles, including going 1-2 each of the past two years. The Huskies have also won the event in seven of the past nine championships now, dating back to 2014.
Also nabbing half a point was Ashleigh Helms, as she tied for eighth-place today making 13-3 ½. Freshman Sarah Ferguson also made 13-3 ½, but one additional miss on her sheet put her in 10th-place overall.
Throwers, Jumpers Thrive
The women's throwers beat the form chart in a big way today, highlighted by redshirt freshman Kaia Tupu-South jumping onto the podium in her first Pac-12 Championship competition.
Tupu-South, the New Zealand native, came in seeded sixth in the shot put, but she delivered the two best throws of her outdoor season, going 54-11 ¼ in round three, and then connecting on a 55-7 ¾ toss in the fifth round, to finish in third-place overall. Her new outdoor PR moves her up to No. 2 in school history.
MaKayla Kelby made it two Dawgs in the top-five, as she was fifth for the third year in a row in the shot. Kelby had a best of 53-9 ¾ on her second attempt. She did not take her final three throws today.
The Dawgs got a boost in the first final of the day, as Beatrice Asomaning had a huge career-best series of hammer throws. Asomaning came into the event seeded just twelfth, but she tossed two early PRs to lead after flight one, with a mark of 186-0, and after waiting through the higher-seeded flight two, Asomaning was in the mix of the final nine throwers.
In the final, Asomaning would PR two more times, going 187-11 and then 190-2 in round five, holding on to her seventh-place standing to earn two big team points. She also moved up two more spots today to No. 3 on the Husky top-10 list, adding just under seven feet to her PR coming into the day.
The Dawgs put two into the men's long jump final today, as Tim Luebbert burst out of the gate with a huge leap of 24-6 ½. It was wind-aided but an all-conditions PR. Prestin Artis got a third-attempt leap of 24-5 ¾ as the two moved into the final round in eighth- and ninth-place, respectively. Luebbert had another strong leap of 24-6 ¼ on his final round, but would finish just out of the points in ninth-place. But Artis came through huge in the clutch, as on his sixth and final jump, he soared to 25-2 ¾, a wind-aided season-best, and that jumped him from ninth all the way up to fourth in the final standings. Artis collected five points for the finish at his first Pac-12 Championships.
???? veins
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) May 13, 2023
Prestin Artis just flew up the leaderboard on his LAST attempt from 9th to 4th??
That's 5? big points for the squad!!#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/Ykw3VXwSjk
Prelims Done And Dusted
A few more Huskies booked tickets to Sunday's final rounds on the track.
In the 800-meters, UW came away with the fastest times in both the men's and women's prelims.
Sam Ellis won his first heat in 1:50.05, more than a second in front of second-place. Defending women's champ Carley Thomas then won her heat in a time of 2:04.88.
Players Mentioned
Jumps
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PV
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Multis
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Dist
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Multis
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Mid-Dist
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Dist
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PV
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PV
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Thr
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Jumps
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Multis
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Mid-Dist
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Multis
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Dist
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Thr
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Dist
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