Jumpers Go Lengthy, Thomas Impresses At UW Invite

SEATTLE – Two victories and three new top-10 marks throughout three occasions made for a powerful UW Invitational for the Husky soar squad, with much more motion nonetheless to come back on Saturday. Wins within the lengthy soar from Ava Washburn and Teko Cates, and a career-best excessive soar make from Leland Lieberg had the Dempsey leaping, and the ladies’s distance crew turned in a number of PRs focusing on the three,000-meter distance.
 
Washington performed host to an extended day of competitors right this moment and Saturday will likely be one other marathon, however a marathon of solely miles on the monitor. It’s Mile City on Saturday, with each race from 9 a.m. till the night going that distance. The 4 top-seeded mile races are scheduled for 1:45 p.m. Meanwhile, there’ll nonetheless be discipline occasion motion on Saturday, as the highest flights of the pole vault and triple jumps will likely be highlighted.
 
Jumpers Take Flight
 
The first massive PR breakthrough of the day got here from the senior Leland Lieberg within the excessive soar. On his third try, he was capable of clear 6-feet, 11-inches (2.11-meters) to complete second general however extra importantly he breaks into the UW top-10 for the primary time on the No. 9 spot.
 
In the lads’s lengthy soar, Cates, the redshirt freshman multi-eventer, took solely two makes an attempt however each had been large PRs. It was his first collegiate lengthy soar competitors after lacking all of 2025 with an damage, and his previous highschool finest was 22-10. Today he went 23-8 1/4 on his first soar then 24-5 3/4 on his second try, which might win the general occasion. That places Cates all the way in which to No. 6 on the Husky indoor listing.
 
In the ladies’s lengthy soar, junior Ava Washburn soared all the way in which as much as No. 2 in class historical past with the primary 20-foot indoor mark since 1984. Washburn went 20-0 1/2 on her very first soar, and likewise had a spherical three mark of 19-9 that was additionally higher than her previous PR. She would win the competitors by greater than a foot.
 
Thomas Leads Bevy Of 3k PRs
 
Senior Chloe Thomas raced on the monitor for the primary time since Dec. 6 when she shattered the Husky 5k report, and for the primary time since working on the World Cross Country Championships earlier this month for Team Canada, the place she positioned thirty first general. In her residence Husky debut, Thomas posted the second-fastest 3,000-meters time in class historical past, powering to a third-place end within the night time’s marquee warmth with a time of 8:51.27. Only Amina Maatoug’s time of 8:46.20 set simply final 12 months sits forward of Thomas’s time tonight.
 
Senior Julia David-Smith additionally dropped her indoor 3k PR all the way down to 9:01.29 as she got here in fifth general. That moved David-Smith up from tenth to No. 8 on the 3k top-10 listing.
 
In earlier 3k motion, Josephine Welin turned in a PR of 9:18.62, and Maeve Stiles posted a 9:25.21. Abby DeVeau had a brand new PR of 9:27.16, and one other PR got here from Isabel Olson in 9:31.47. Gioana Lopizzo clocked a 9:56.13, and Annika Carlson ran 9:56.31 for an additional PR.
 
Rhodes Makes Strong Sprint Debut
 
Junior Alex Rhodes, an NCAA Division-III Champion at University of Puget Sound, made his anticipated Husky debut tonight within the 400-meters, and took second general in a time of 46.90 seconds. That places Rhodes as much as No. 7 in class historical past only one race in.
 
Jonathan Frazier was seventh general within the 400-meters in 48.24, and that was after he took third general within the 60m hurdles in 8.24, after working 8.19 within the prelims.
 
Freshman Chloe Symon was the highest Husky within the ladies’s 400-meters, as she dropped down from her ordinary 800-meters to run a time of 55.71. Freshman Sena Pittman ran 58.18 and senior Rhonda Newton clocked 58.52.
 
In the ladies’s 60m hurdles, freshman Sara Nordlund was seventeenth general in 9.19 seconds and Adri Edwards ran 9.81 for thirtieth general. In the dashes, Sophia McHenry ran 8.19 within the 60m and 26.80 within the 200m.