PULLMAN, Wash. --Washington State's Thane Pierson broke the 13-year old meet high jump record Saturday at the 14th Annual WSU Open Indoor Track & Field meet at the Indoor Facility in Pullman.
Pierson, a senior from Naches, Wash., cleared an indoor-best high jump bar at 7-feet, 1 inch (2.16m), equaling his outdoor PR mark leaped last spring. Pierson cleared every bar he attempted on the first attempt starting at 6-4 3/4 (1.95m), except he need two attempts at 6-11 3/4 (2.13m). His third attempt at 7-2 1/4 (2.19m) was close but not to be. Pierson broke the meet record of 7-0 1/2 (2.15m) set in 2003 by Thad Hathaway, a former Idaho standout who has been a WSU Athletics Academic counselor for the past 13 years.
WSU captured 10 wins with limited entries in the two-day Open meet. Cougar Liz Harper (junior, Missoula, Mont.) was a double-winner Saturday winning the 60m hurdles with a PR time of 8.56 seconds, and winning the long jump with a leap of 18-7 (5.66m).
Other Cougar women with wins Saturday included Dominique Keel (senior, Beaverton, Ore.) in the 60m dash with a time of 7.68 after running 7.67 in the prelims. Kiana Davis (junior, Longview, Wash.) won the high jump with a mark of 5-8 3/4 (1.75m) which equals her PR, after a runner-up finish in the triple jump Friday night. Greer Alsop (redshirt sophomore, Invercargill, New Zealand) won the triple jump Friday night with a meet record leap of 40-8 3/4 (12.41m), just under her PR of 41-0 1/4 (12.50m), taking away WSU's Sarah Burns 2008 record of 40-6 (12.34m). Saturday Alsop was the runner-up in the long jump with a distance of 18-01 (5.51m).
Zach Smith (sophomore, Bremerton, Wash.) won the men's 60m dash with a PR time of 6.95. Multi-events competitor Dino Dodig (junior, Novi Sad, Serbia) won the 60m hurdles by shattering his PR by .20/100s second, crossing the tape in 8.11.
Austin Sodorff (senior, Woodinville, Wash.) won the pole vault with a season-best16-9 1/2 (5.12m). In the throws, Matt Wardell (senior, Post Falls, Idaho) was in the runner-up in the shot put with a toss of 53-5 1/4 (16.26m). Friday night Brock Eager (sophomore, Renton, Wash.) won the 35-pound weight with a PR heave of 63-2 3/4 (19.27m), the seventh-best mark in WSU all-time.
Carroll College's Leah Esposito won the women's mile with a meet-record time of 4:59.44 breaking the previous meet record of 5:03.48 by WSU's Meghan Leonard in 2008. St. Martin's Shannon Porter broke the 3000m record with her winning time of 10:10.44, erasing Central Washington's Katie Hummel's time of 10:15.95 run in 2007. WSU senior Kristine Felix, competing unattached, tied the meet record in the pole vault with her clearance at 13-7 1/4 (4.15m).
“I was extremely happy with the Cougars' performances at this meet. You can always say you hope for more but I couldn't have hoped for anything more in this opening meet at home; it was fantastic,” WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Wayne Phipps said. “For sophomore Brock Eager, anytime you can be on the top ten of a WSU list that's a big time accomplishment. Greer Alsop is having a great start to her season. Last year she was getting used to new coaching and new philosophies but it is really clicking and she and Coach (Yogi) Teevens are really onto something now. Thane Pierson had a fantastic day and everyone knew, including Thane, that he had it in him. But to be able to do it (this height) this early, I think it bodes well and sets him up to get a legitimate shot at being an NCAA qualifier and an All-American.”
The WSU Track & Field teams head back to Seattle next weekend for the UW Invitational, Jan. 29-30, and returns to Pullman for the Cougar Indoor collegiate meet Feb. 5-6.