New Dawgs Write New Records In Dempsey Opener

Friday, January 17

Seattle, WA

12:00 PM

University of Washington

UW Preview

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

January 17, 2025 | Track & Field

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By: UW Athletic Communications

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SEATTLE – Washington wasted little time getting back up to speed in its Dempsey Indoor home opener on Friday. School Records in the men's 600-meters and 800-meters from first-year Dawgs and eight individual victories made for an impressive showing at the UW Preview. The weekend opener will continue on Saturday with a full day of mile racing in the second annual Mile City meet.

Out of the eight Husky wins on Friday, four came from the men's jumps group, which swept all four events today. First, Trevontay Smith won the triple jump going 49-10, then Leland Lieberg won the high jump with a make of 6-7 ½. Prestin Artis took the long jump with a best of 24-11, and Simon Park took the pole vault victory, clearing 17-7 ¼.

The first Husky School Record of the Dempsey season came from freshman Bodi Ligons in his Dempsey debut. The L.A. native ran the 600-meters today, taking second in 1:16.48 to just get under former All-American and Pac-12 Champion Cass Elliott's record of 1:16.51, which was also the facility record. Just two races into his collegiate career and Ligons owns a UW record.

The same goes for Kyle Reinheimer, though he came to Washington after four seasons at North Carolina. He and fellow grad transfer Justin O'Toole, from Columbia, turned the top heat of the 800-meters into a jailbreak, as they left the rest of the field well behind and the only drama was which Husky would get the win and how fast would they run.

Reinheimer came in with a career 800m PR of 1:48.35, and O'Toole's best was 1:47.84 outdoors, and 1:48.31 indoors. Reinheimer got the edge at the finish line today and threw out his arms and turned to look at O'Toole in some disbelief, as he knew the time would be fast. It turned out to be School Record fast when it came up on the scoreboard, at 1:46.45, just under Nathan Green's mark of 1:46.50 from just last year, which got Green to NCAA Indoors.

And O'Toole was right behind in 1:46.59, going to No. 3 in school history behind Reinheimer and Green. Reinheimer and O'Toole now rank 1-2 in the NCAA this season.

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Incredible moment for Kyle and Justin who each destroyed their old PRs and now lead the NCAA together. #GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/MmsYSFmflW
— Washington Track & Field and Cross Country (@UWTrack) January 18, 2025

Sprint Events

We'll let the experts decide whether 600-meters is a sprint or a mid-distance event, but along with the record by Ligons, UW had strong runs on the women's side from Anna Terrell and Elle Rutherford. Terrell ran the distance for the first time, and went straight to No. 3 in school history with a time of 1:30.64. Rutherford was just .08 off her PR with a time of 1:34.60.

Highlights of the no-doubt sprint events included Danielle Hunter getting a big PR at 60-meters, taking third overall in a time of 7.48 seconds, which moves her up to No. 7 in school history.

At 400-meters, freshman Mikayla Gardley took second overall in a time of 55.47 seconds, just a tenth of a second off the time she ran in her UW debut in Spokane last month.

Sophomore Jonathan Frazier had a pair of PRs today in the 60m hurdles and in the 400-meters. He opened in the hurdles, breaking eight-seconds for the first time with a time of 7.97. That makes him just the fifth Husky to go sub-8.00 and the first since 2016. Frazier would then win the final but in a slower 8.06 seconds. He also turned in a 400-meters best of 47.71 to take third.

Distance Events

Reinheimer and O'Toole took the NCAA lead in the men's 800-meters, but UW got a big win with a big PR in the women's 800-meters as well, as Claire Yerby pulled away to win by a second-and-a-half in 2:06.45. That was a PR by over a second and it moves Yerby to No. 9 in Husky history.

More PRs in the women's 800m came from senior transfer Maggie Liebich, as she was third overall in 2:08.09, a two-second indoor PR. And Julia David-Smith dropped down in distance after running at 5k last month, going 2:08.88 for 800-meters today. Rutherford also doubled back from her 600-meters and ran 2:13.55.

Continuing up in distance, at 1,000-meters, freshman Martin Barco took third overall in an impressive time of 2:21.77, which breaks him into that Husky top-10 list at No. 7.

Several Husky men raced unattached in the 3k tonight. Freshman Nathan Neil won his section in 7:56.64, and James Crabtree had a six-second PR of 8:01.46. Freshman Parker Mong clocked 8:08.21 and Isaac Briggs ran 8:12.39. Cruize Corvin came through in 8:26.05 and Will Schneider ran 8:30.39.

Josephine Welin was the only women's entry in the 3k, and she earned a personal-best time of 9:21.64, a PR by seven seconds.

Jump Events

The men swept all four jump events today. Leland Lieberg got his second-straight win to start the year, going 6-7 ½ and taking three tries at a potential PR of 6-10 ¼.

Simon Park tied his career-best pole vault clearance, going 17-7 ¼ and taking shots at 18-1 ¼. Mathis Bresko, competing unattached, was second at 17-1 ½.

Prestin Artis continues to round into form early in the long jump as the Pac-12 Champ had a best of 24-11 to win by a foot-and-a-half today. Tim Luebbert returned to action for the Dawgs for the first time since 2023 and he was third at 23-0 ¾.

Sophomore Trevontay Smith's winning triple jump mark of 49-10 was an indoor PR, and moves him up to No. 7 in school history. Roman Hutchinson was sixth at 46-7 1/4.

Avril Wilson took second in the women's pole vault today with a third-attempt clearance of 13-1 ¾. Rachel Bir was third in the women's triple jump with a best in round four of 37-5.

Throwing Events

Kaia Tupu-South came out of the gates with a big throw in round one of the shot put as she launched her opener 55-8 ¼ which would be her best of the day and win by nearly 10 feet. It puts her at No. 9 in the NCAA in the early season as she looks to break into the top-16 for nationals.

In the women's weight throw, Yvonne Colson also had her best in round one, going 56-5 ¼ to take second overall. In the men's weight, competing unattached, freshman Miles Clark threw 53-3 ¾.

Multi Athletes

While the first multi-event competitions are still to come, UW's all-arounders had a busy day. Jami Schlueter earned a new PR in the 60-meter dash, going 7.01 seconds today. He later competed in the pole vault, clearing 14-8. Sophomore Ava Washburn had a 60m hurdles time of 9.30, but fouled in the long jump. Spanish Champion Sofia Cosculluela had her first Dempsey action, competing unattached. She ran 8.48 in the hurdles prelims, and long jumped 19-0 ¾ for second in both events.