Foerster, Green Roll To No. 2 Times In NCAA

Saturday, April 13

Azusa, CA

5:00 PM

University of Washington

Bryan Clay Invitational

April 13, 2024 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

AZUSA, Calif. – Sophomore Chloe Foerster and junior Nathan Green blazed to two of the fastest women's and men's 1,500-meters times in collegiate history and UW history tonight at the Bryan Clay Invitational hosted by Azusa Pacific. Both of the Husky All-Americans were just inched out for top collegiate honors in each race, but they will now stand at No. 2 in the NCAA this season, and Green's run ranks him No. 4 in NCAA history.

Foerster and Green's runs were the top marks for the Dawgs as the Bryan Clay Invite concluded, with all of UW's entries coming in the 1,500-meters today.

Foerster, who broke the UW school record indoors in the mile, opened her outdoor season with a then-PR of 4:12.66, but she smashed that by nearly five more seconds today, running a phenomenal time of 4:07.96. She finished with the same time as Georgetown's Melissa Riggins, but Riggins edged her by four-thousandths of a second. The two now rank 1st and 2nd in the NCAA this season and 12th and 13th in NCAA history.

Foerster is just the second Husky ever to break 4:10, which was done for the first time last year by teammate Sophie O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan set the school record at the World Championships last summer at 4:02.15, but Foerster's time is the fastest ever run by a Husky during the NCAA season. O'Sullivan's best in-season last year was 4:08.06.

Green, the 2023 NCAA Champion at 1,500-meters, ran a career-best time of 3:34.79, which was second by a stride to Northern Arizona's Colin Sahlman, as the two battled each other over the final 200-meters. Salman's time of 3:33.96 is fastest in the NCAA this year and second-fastest in NCAA history, while Green now slides in at No. 4 in collegiate history.

?? One of the fastest races … ever … in @NCAATrackField as Nathan Green goes to #??4?? in NCAA history!

He takes second in 3??:3??4??.7??9?? behind Sahlman's second-fastest time in NCAA history of 3:33.96#GoHuskies // ?? Flotrack pic.twitter.com/bKmyjlAvhO
— Washington Track & Field and Cross Country (@UWTrack) April 14, 2024

Similar to Foerster's mark, Green's time was just shy of Joe Waskom's school record of 3:34.64, which he ran in Europe last summer, but Green's time is the fastest ever run by a Dawg within the outdoor collegiate campaign. The only other Husky to go sub-3:35 was Sam Tanner, who went 3:34.72 in 2021 in a rarely contested indoor 1,500-meters.

The times were all the more impressive because for the second straight meet, the distance squad had to contend with heavy rains down in California, not making for the best racing conditions.

Another one of the big highlights was Samantha Friborg dominating her respective section for the second day in a row, and the third time this outdoor season. Friborg won her 800m heat yesterday by nearly a full second in a PR of 2:03.23. Today, she was even more dominant in her 1,500-meter heat, pulling well away from the rest of the field over the final lap and setting yet another PR in 4:15.75. Second-place was two-and-a-half seconds behind Friborg.

The rest of the women's 1,500-meter results saw Haley Herberg run 4:21.87, Julia David-Smith went 4:22.16, Ella Borsheim ran 4:23.68, and Marlena Preigh clocked 4:26.26.

The rest of the Husky men racing the 1,500-meters tonight included Luke Houser, who opened his outdoor season in 3:42.12. Leo Daschbach had a big five-second PR of 3:42.84 to take second in his heat. Joe Waskom ran 3:43.48, and Ronan McMahon-Staggs went 3:43.73.

Several redshirt or true freshmen ran their first collegiate 1,500-meters tonight. Evan Jenkins dropped down from his 10,000-meter school record two weeks ago to run 3:47.18. James Crabtree went 3:47.76 and Tyrone Gorze, also dropping down from 10k, ran 3:50.96. Jamar Distel's first 1,500-meters was 3:52.40.

Thom Diamond posted a 3:48.41 time and Sam Affolder clocked 3:52.62.