ALBUQUERQUE -- Washington State track and field competitors captured a trio of event wins, wrote five new marks into the school's all-time top 10 lists, and achieved 19 personal bests Saturday at the New Mexico Team Invitational at the Convention Center.
For the second consecutive Saturday, freshman
Sam Brixey (Boise, Idaho) broke the WSU freshman indoor record for the men's 60m hurdles. Brixey won the event with a PR time of 7.93 seconds while
Abu Kamara was the runner-up with a PR time of 7.95,
Ian Markham finished fourth with a season-best time of 8.35 and
Christapherson Grant finished eighth after falling but had the fifth-best time in the prelims.
Regyn Gaffney (sophomore, Chehalis, Wash.) won the women's 60m dash with a PR time of 7.45 - tying her with Francesca Green's 1999 time in WSU indoor records.
Jordyn Tucker ran a PR time of 7.62 in the prelims and finished fifth with a time of 7.64.
Pole vaulter
Kristine Felix (redshirt senior, Wailuku, Hawai'i) won that event with a season-best clearance at 13-feet 6 1/4 inches (4.12m).
Kiana Davis (senior, Longview, Wash.) took third place in the triple jump with a PR distance of 41-6 1/2 (12.66m) - fourth-best in WSU all-time records.
Katie Wardsworth (redshirt junior, Spokane Valley, Wash.) tossed the 20 lb weight throw a PR mark of 56-3 1/4 (17.15m), seventh-best in school records.
Brock Eager (redshirt sophomore, Renton, Wash.) took third place in the men's 35 lb weight throw with a PR heave of 65-6 1/4 (19.97m) which is sixth-best in WSU all-time records.
Travis Pickett took sixth place with a PR toss of 60-1 3/4 (18.33m) and
Adam Mahama scored in eighth place with a PR mark of 54-6 1/2 (16.62m).
Other Cougar women with PR marks in Albuquerque included:
Tierney Silliman in the 60m (7.86 - 9th) and 200m (25.09 - third place), and
Natalie Ackerley in the 800m (2:15.40 - second place). The women's 4x400m relay of Gaffney,
Liz Harper, Ackerley and
Grace Victor took fourth place with a time of 3:50.69.
WSU men achieving PR marks in New Mexico included: in the 200m
Ja'Maun Charles (21.51 - fourth),
Ethan Gardner (21.83 - eighth) and
Jonnie Green (21.99 - 11th);
Matthew Swanson in the 400m (48.66 - seventh);
Anden Lewis in the pole vault (4.90m / 16-0 3/4 - tied for second); and in the shot put,
Jake Callaghan (16.52m / 54-2 1/2 - fifth) and
Nick Johnson (11.36m / 37-3 1/4 - 10th).
Cole Smith took third place in the men's high jump with a leap equaling his PR at 6-8 3/4 (2.05m).
"It was a very strong team performance with several outstanding individual accomplishments,"
Wayne Phipps, WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field, said. "
Sam Brixey broke his own school record leading a one-two sweep in the hurdles with both Sam and
Abu Kamara breaking the eight seconds barrier for the very first time.
Regyn Gaffney continued her amazing season with another big win against awesome competition in another yet personal best time.
Kiana Davis was able to focus on just the triple jump this meet and came up with a huge performance and the number two jump in the conference. Our weight throwers also had an awesome meet with several PRs led by
Brock Eager's conference leading throw."
In team scoring Kansas State won the women's side with 114 points, followed by New Mexico's 112, Texas Christian University 104, Washington State 85.5, Utah State 58, Fresno State 47 and Air Force Academy 30.5. New Mexico narrowly won the men's team title with106 points to Utah State's 104, followed by TCU 101, Air Force Academy 84.5, Washington State 81.5 and Kansas State 78. WSU's middle distance and distance runners competed in Seattle at the UW Invitational.
WSU hosts the Cougar Indoor and Multis meets Feb. 3-4 at the Indoor Practice Facility in Pullman.
Bortfeld Runs Sub-Five Minute Mile at UW Invitational Indoor Meet
SEATTLE -- After breaking the Washington State University indoor record in the women's 5000m Friday night with a time of 16 minutes, 30.30 seconds,
Devon Bortfeld returned to the track Saturday morning to clock in her first sub-five minute mile at the UW Invitational Indoor meet at the Dempsey Indoor Facility in Seattle.
Bortfeld, a junior from Sammamish, Wash., ran a mile time of 4:54.79, winning her heat and finishing 29th overall.
In the men's mile
Paul Ryan and
Chandler Teigen both ran PR times. Ryan's time of 4:07.06 was 16th overall and Teigen's 4:09.50 time was 25th-best in the field.
Reid Muller ran an 800m time of 1:55.67 (32nd).
In the 3000m races, the heats were split between Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Competing Friday night were
Morgan Lash (10:13.08 - 60th overall),
Josie Brown (10:14.12 - 61st), and
Steffie Pavey (10:27.15 - 72nd) while Saturday racing saw
Desi Stinger (10:27.82 - 73rd) and
Katherine Dittmann (10:32.06 - 75th).
In the men's 3000m heats Saturday,
Nathan Wadhwani ran a PR time of 8:20.41 for 30th place, followed by
Michael Williams' time of 8:29.45 for 31st. Friday night racing saw
Kyler Little run a time of 8:31.40 (56th overall) and
Kennan Schrag's PR time of 8:33.50 (61st).
"The meet at Seattle went very well,"
Wayne Phipps, WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field, said. "It was the first meet of the season for a lot of the athletes so it was great to them back racing again. The most impressive performance of the weekend was
Devon Bortfeld's school record in the 5k, which was also a 28-seconds personal best. She doubled back with another PR and a convincing heat win in the mile the next morning."
WSU hosts the Cougar Indoor and Multis meets Feb. 3-4 at the Indoor Practice Facility in Pullman.
