Rhoads Sets UW, Big Ten, Dempsey Vault Records

Saturday, January 17

Seattle, Wash.

9:00 AM

University of Washington

UW Preview

January 17, 2026 | Track & Field

Complete Results PDF

By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – Husky Associate Head Coach Toby Stevenson has been a part of the only two 19-foot pole vault makes in the 25-year history of the Dempsey Indoor. Back in 2004, Stevenson, an Olympic medalist, set the facility record with a make of 19-0 3/4. Today, one of his proteges, Jimmy Rhoads, joined him in the 19-foot club, and broke his 22-year-old record with a make of 19-1 at the UW Preview.

Rhoads, in his first year as a Husky after earning All-America honors at Penn, zoomed to the No. 1 spot in the NCAA while also breaking the long-standing UW School Record held by Husky Hall of Famer and former American Record-holder Brad Walker (19-0 1/4). It also broke the Big Ten Conference record and ranks Rhoads at No. 11 in NCAA history indoors.

It's been all big bars so far in his two meets as a Dawg. Rhoads initially took the NCAA lead back in December when he made 18-8 3/4 to win the Spokane Invitational on Dec. 13. One month later and in his Dempsey home debut, he was even better.

There were more School Records from UW's always talented miler squad, as both the men's and women's 1,000-meter records went down. Chloe Foerster ran the third-fastest women's 1k in NCAA history in 2:37.79 and Tyler Bilyard then posted the fourth-fastest men's 1k in NCAA history 2:17.96.

THERE'S A NEW HUSKY POLE VAULT KING ??

Jimmy Rhoads has broken Hall of Famer Brad Walker's UW record. Rhoads made 19-1 to take the @NCAATrackField Lead AND break the @bigten Record ??

He also broke the Dempsey Record held by the first person to hug him, Coach Stevenson ?? pic.twitter.com/Ofrnh63bgw
— Washington Track & Field and Cross Country (@UWTrack) January 18, 2026

Distances

The first Dempsey meet of the season often gives athletes a shot at lesser run events, like the 600-meters or 1,000-meters, and the Huskies made the most of those chances today with the records in the 1k.

The women's 1k was a battle between Stanford's Juliette Whittaker, a 2024 U.S. Olympian in the 800-meters, and Husky All-American Chloe Foerster. Whittaker managed to hold Foerster off by two-tenths of a second to win in 2:37.54 to Foerster's 2:37.79, as they went to No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, in collegiate history. Jenica Swartz, in her UW home debut, was fifth in 2:39.88.

It had been several year since any UW women had raced at the distance, but Foerster and Swartz both crushed the old School Record of 2:46.82 set by multiple All-American Amy-Eloise Neale in 2017.

Chloe Foerster battles the U.S. Olympian to the finish in the 1,000-meters as they run the 2nd and 3rd-fastest times in NCAA HISTORY ????

Foerster with a 2:37.79 to crush the School Record and Jenica Swartz goes to second in UW history in 2:39.88#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/07bv6s03NL
— Washington Track & Field and Cross Country (@UWTrack) January 17, 2026

Bilyard, in his UW home debut, took down a talented field to win the men's 1k in a Dempsey Record and School Record of 2:17.96. That bumped two-time NCAA Champion Nathan Green off the top of the Husky 1k records. Green ran a 2:18.56 in 2024. In the same race, freshman Owen Powell jumped to No. 6 in school history with a 2:21.52.

In the 600-meters, freshman Chloe Symon went to No. 3 in school history with a time of 1:29.73 as she took second overall.

But there were still some good, old miles in the Dempsey today, with the Dawgs posting great early season times.

Mia Cochran cut a couple of seconds off her lifetime-best as she was the top collegiate finisher, fourth overall, in 4:30.98, good for No. 2 in the NCAA this season and No. 5 in UW history. Julia David-Smith also ran a PR of 4:34.95, and Isabel Olson had a big career-best of 4:44.17.

The men saw three Huskies go sub-four-minutes with the Mile City meet still two weeks away. Reuben Reina was the top collegiate finisher in 3:55.26 and right alongside was Thom Diamond who dipped just under his PR in 3:55.33. Jamar Distel dropped a PR time of 3:57.33. Freshman Josiah Tostenson ran 4:06.05 and junior Tyrone Gorze ran 4:10.80.

The last distance races were the 3,000-meters this evening. The women were led by Josephine Welin in a PR time of 9:20.41 to take eighth overall. Maeve Stiles ran 9:24.61 and Abby DeVeau finished her first collegiate track race in 9:29.73.

Big Ten 10k Champ Evan Jenkins claimed the final big highlight with a dramatic come-from-behind win in the top heat of the men's 3k. He just out-leaned WSU All-American Evans Kurui by .02 seconds, winning 7:51.42 to 7:51.44 in a race with a classic Dual Meet vibe.

Sophomore Parker Mong, running unattached, broke eight-minutes for the first time in 7:58.20. Nathan Neil ran 8:00.08 and Isaac Briggs finished in 8:02.02.

Jumps and Vault

Along with the record-setting win from Rhoads, fellow new Dawg Eli Gault-Crabb continued his strong early season with a second-place make of 17-9 1/4.

Freshman Veronica Vacca claimed her first collegiate win in the women's pole vault. She cleared 14-0 1/2, as did senior All-American Sara Borton, in her first competition since missing all of 2025 due to injury. Vacca finished first with fewer attempts at the winning height.

In the triple jump, junior Trevontay Smith took second overall with a best of 49-5 1/2. In third-place was junior Roman Hutchinson at 48-9 and senior Tim Luebbert was fifth with a best of 47-2 1/4.

Ava Washburn jumped an indoor PR of 39-10 3/4 to take fourth in the women's triple jump, while Rachel Bir was ninth at 39-0 1/4 and freshman Addy Kelly was 11th at 37-6 1/2.

Sprints

Just a few Husky sprinters were in action this weekend, led by junior Jonathan Frazier, who took third overall in the 60m hurdles in 8.33 seconds. Freshman Sara Nordlund ran 9.29 in the women's 60m hurdles.

The women won the 4x400m relay with a group made up of freshman sprinter Sena Pittman, and mid-distance runners Chloe Symon, Jenica Swartz, and Chloe Foerster. The Dawgs posted a time of 3:46.55 to edge out Stanford.