April 27, 2013

Complete Results

SEATTLE - Washington State senior Shawna Fermin came from behind on the anchor leg of the 4x400m relay to win the event and push the Cougar women's team to victory Saturday at the Husky Outdoor Facility. The WSU women won 86-77 while the Washington men's team won 92-71.

Fermin, from Victorville, Calif., started the day anchoring the winning 400m relay, as the squad of Cindy Robinson, Dominique Keel, Christiana Ekelem and Fermin ran a time of 45.45 seconds. Fermin then led a WSU sweep of the 400m dash with a time of 55.01 followed by Bree Winfrey (55.79) and Bria'una Watley (57.19). To warm up for the final relay, Fermin took second in the 200m dash, running in the first section. In the final event of the meet, the Huskies had a substantial lead in the 4x400m relay after Winfrey, Ekelem and Keel ran the first three legs. Fermin took the final handoff and really motored around the oval until taking over UW's anchor, Gianna Woodruff, in the final straightaway. WSU ran a time of 3:42.99 to UW's 3:44.98.

"I'm very proud of the Cougar women and a great competitive effort today," Cougar Head Coach Rick Sloan said. "They kept their focus and closed the deal. The Huskies did a nice job of competing but I was proud of the way our women responded to the challenge. We thought the women's team win would go down to the 4x4 race and we were right. Shawna did a great job being very competitive and mature throughout the whole meet."

Caroline Austin, a senior from Chehalis, Wash., ran a lifetime-best and school-record time in the 3000m steeplechase of 10 minutes 9.55 seconds. The women's team captain finished second, behind Pac-12 leader UW's Mel Lawrence (10:08.52). Austin's time decimated WSU's previous record-holder, Sara Trané's 2008 time of 10:14.29.

Ruby Roberts (junior, Kingston, Wash.) scored an upset win in the 1500m after running a strategically smart race to lead the last 100 meters and edge Megan Goethals at the finish line. Roberts' time of 4:20.18 is ranked fourth-best in WSU all-time records.

Keel and Robinson finished one-two in the 100m dash with times of 11.92 seconds and 12.03 seconds, respectively. Keel, a freshman from Beaverton, Ore., also won the 200m dash (24.66), in addition to the winning short relay. Other WSU women scorers on the track included Morgan Clem who was edged out in a photo-finish in the 100m hurdles. Erin Allen was the runner-up in the 400m hurdles. Courtney Zalud took third place in the 800m.

Junior thrower Mary Barnett (Hermiston, Ore.) scored in three events for the Cougars. She won the shot put with a lifetime-best toss of 46-feet 5 1/4 inches (14.15m) and took third in the hammer. Ashley Kenney (senior, Spokane Valley) won the discus and Barnett took third in this event too. Anna Adamko (sophomore, Vancouver, Wash.) won the javelin and Celena Ward placed third.

Holly Parent, a junior from Victoria, B.C., led a one-two-three WSU finish in the high jump, with Audrey Ketcham second and Christine Rice and Charlotte Muschamp tied for third. Muschamp, a redshirt sophomore from New Zealand, won the triple jump. Shantae Young was second in the long jump and Kristine Felix placed third in the pole vault.

On the men's side, Todd Wakefield (junior, Australia) was a double-winner, taking the 1500m in a time of 3:47.52 and coming back later in the day to win the 3000m (8:14.79). Stephan Scott-Ellis (senior, Tacoma) was also a double-winner with victories in the long jump (season-best 24-10/7.57m) and the triple jump (49-11 1/4).

Lucas Sealby won the men's 400m dash in a time of 48.04 with Byron Howell second in 48.93. The 400m relay of Greg Hornsby, Trevor Rogers, Brett Blanshan, and Andre McBride won in with a season-best time of 40.45. Dana Wells (senior, Tieton, Wash.) won the 400m hurdles in a time of 52.77.

Oliver Henry (senior, Spanaway, Wash.) won the discus with a throw of 175-11 (52.61m) and Cameron Brink (freshman, Bainbridge Island, Wash.) took second with a toss of 155-4 (47.36m).

Other Cougar men scoring in the meet included Hornsby finishing second in the 100m and Blanshan taking third in the 200m. The 800m race went down to the wire as Jesse Jorgensen came from behind but could not catch Derrick Daigre as the Husky won with a time of 1:50.14 to Jorgensen's 1:50.16. In the steeplechase Andrew Gonzales was second and Forrest Shaffer third with a PR of 9:11.55. Lee George took third in the 1500m.

Field events scorers included Tay'lor Eubanks second in the triple jump, while Cougar football player John Fullington took second in the shot put with Matt Wardell third. Hammer throwers Travis Pickett was second and Chris Baltazar third. Jovan Vukicevic cleared a season-best high jump height of 6-11 3/4 (2.11m) for third place and Austin Sodorff placed third in the pole vault.

"For the men, this was a meet that we had to be spot-on and then get a few come-throughs," Sloan said. "We got the come-throughs that we needed but we weren't spot-on in the areas where we needed to be solid and that cost us the meet. We had to be strong all the way across the board and not quite able to get it done today."

Next weekend is the Pac-12 Combined Events Championships for decathletes Sean Harris and Spencer Wordell, Saturday and Sunday at USC. May 4 is also graduation day for several Cougars while others will compete at the Vandal Jamboree in Moscow.

Sloan quotes highlighting the women's performances: "Caroline Austin's school record in the steeplechase was nearly a five second improvement. Ruby Roberts ran a great race; a gutsy and strong race. The women's sprint corps had a big strong contribution going one-two in the 100m, one-two in the 200m, one-two-three in the 400m, and won both relays. That is a chunk of change right there for the Cougars scoring effort. Mary Barnett did a good job scoring in all three throwing events and getting a PR in the shot. The javelin throwers performed well with Anna Adamko winning and Celana Ward third. Sweeping the high jump was an important part of our effort. Charlotte Muschamp did a nice job winning the triple jump and scoring in the high jump."

Sloan quotes highlighting the men's performances: "We started out great on the men's side and got some good early performances and I thought we built some momentum. To their credit, their men battled back and competed hard and did a good job. We competed hard and they found a way to get more points out of some of the events than we were. It was a good job by the Cougs on the men's side and just a little bit better job by the Huskies. Todd Wakefield was an ironman winning the 1500m and then came back and won the 3000m. Stephan won the long and the triple but never got to run the 200m because the schedule had the race scheduled before the men started triple jumping. Greg Hornsby did a nice job and ran a great race in the 100m and ran a good leg on the relay. The 400m guys did a nice job going one-two."