STANFORD, Calif. -- The Washington State track and field distance corps raced well Friday at the Stanford Invitational at Cobb Track and Angell Field and at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival at Cox Stadium.
At Stanford, redshirt senior Forrest Shaffer (Petaluma, Calif.) lowered his 3000m steeplechase PR time down to 8 minutes, 51.73 seconds for third place in his section. In the 5000m, Sam Levora (sophomore, Sandpoint, Idaho) ran a PR time of 14:17.44 for eighth in his section. Chandler Teigen (freshman, Anatone, Wash.) ran a PR time in the 1500m of 3:50.13 for third place with Levora's time of 3:59.54 in the section for 11th.
The late night 10,000m races provided great times for Cougar runners. Michael Williams (sophomore, Richland, Wash.) ran a PR time of 29:09.28 for 11th in his section while John Whelan (junior, Etna, Calif.) ran a PR time of 29:15.94 for 18th place in the men's elite section. CharLee Linton (senior, Shorewood, Wash.) came close to eclipsing her women's school record time with her time of 34:05.75 for 13th in her section.
“We had a good day today, with several lifetime bests and we had four performances that are all but guaranteed to advance to NCAAs led by Forrest Shaffer who ran an awesome steeple,” WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field said. “Our 10k runners made up the remaining three performances. Michael Williams ran an aggressive race and finished with a huge PR. John Whelan ran a very controlled race despite being in a very elite field and also had a huge PR. CharLee Linton was on pace to break her own school record until the very last lap but was ill prior to the race and it affected the latter part of her race. CharLee being one of the toughest runners I've ever seen battled the entire way and barely got across the finish, narrowly missing her school record. All three 10km runners did more than enough to advance to NCAA first rounds. I was also impressed by true freshman Chandler Teigen who had a five-second PR in the 1500m.”
At the San Francisco State Distance Carnival, Cougar women sophomore Devon Bortfeld (Sammamish, Wash.) sliced her PR time in the 3000m steeplechase to 10:41.82 for 14th place and moving up to the eighth-best time in WSU all-time standings. The women's 5000m races saw Morgan Willson (redshirt junior, Colfax, Wash.) run a PR time of 17:14.97 for 27th while freshmen Josie Brown (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) ran a time of 17:37.31 (46th) and Katherine Dittmann (Snohomish, Wash.) ran a PR time of 17:41.39 (51st).
In the men's 1500m, Reid Muller (freshman, Pitt Meadows, B.C.) reached a PR time of 3:53.74 for 14th overall while Jackson Haselnus (redshirt sophomore, Gresham, Ore.) ran a season-best time of 3:57.77 for 36th.
Freshmen steeplechasers with PRs at this meet included Nathan Wadhwani (Maple Ridge, B.C.) clocking in at 9:26.72 (29th), Jake Finney (Post Falls, Idaho) running a time of 9:34.40 (35th), and Kyler Little (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) running a time of 9:34.94 (36th).
The men's and women's 10k race results at the Stanford Invitational will be reported in the Saturday recap.
Saturday, Cougars track and field competitors will be at the 11th Annual Sam Adams Classic meet at Whitworth University.
