SEATTLE -- Washington State women track and field competitors provided the points and the excitement Friday during the first day at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships at the Dempsey Indoor Facility in Seattle.
Liz Harper, a junior from Missoula, Mont., competing in her second pentathlon, was the runner-up with 4,146 points, third-best total in WSU all-time records. Harper, who holds the second-best 400m hurdles time in WSU records, opened the pentathlon with a PR time in the 60m hurdles of 8.45 seconds, tied for fifth-best on the school's all-time top 10 records. She high jumped a PR height of 5-feet 11 1/4 inches (1.81m) which is tied for ninth-best in school records. Harper threw the shot put a PR distance of 33-11 1/4 (10.34m), long jumped a distance of 18-2 1/4 (5.54m), and ran the 800m in a PR time of 2 minutes 17.16 seconds.
Alissa Brooks-Johnson, a junior from Doty, Wash., took third place with 4,027 points. The 2015 Pac-12 outdoor heptathlon champion opened the five-event competition Friday afternoon with a PR time in the 60m hurdles of 8.77. She high jumped 5-6 1/2 (1.69m), threw the shot put a PR distance of 40-10 1/4 (12.45m), long jumped a distance of 17-7 1/2 (5.37m), and ran the 800m in a PR time of 2:16.50.
Although several conference championship pentathlon events are still to be contested, Harper's score is currently 13th-best nationally with the top 16 scores advancing to the NCAA Indoor Championships March 11-12 in Birmingham, Ala. Earlier this season Brooks-Johnson scored a pentathlon PR total of 4,101 points which is currently 17th.
Freshman Lindsey Schauble (Kennewick, Wash.) finished 10th with a PR 3,533 points which is eighth-best in WSU records. Schauble ran the 60m hurdles in a PR time of 9.24, high jumped a PR height of 5-1 3/4 (1.57m), threw the shot put a PR distance of 34-2 1/4 (10.42m), long jumped a PR mark of 17-7 124 (5.37m), and ran the 800m in a PR time of 2:25.36. Amalie Iuel from USC won the pentathlon with 4,444 points.
CharLee Linton (senior, Shorewood, Wash.) captured third place in the women's 5000m with a PR and WSU indoor school record time of 16:34.89, which is also seventh-best all-time in WSU history. Linton erased Anna Blue's 2003 indoor record time of 16:35.18. Other Cougs in the race included Emily Dwyer (17:15.28 - 19th), Morgan Willson (17:24.17 - 22nd), Katherine Dittmann (17:41.45 - 24th) and Josie Brown (17:53.11 - 25th).
In the men's 5k race, Michael Williams took 11th place with his PR time of 14:10.30 and Sam Levora finished 13th with his PR time of 14:14.83. John Whelan took 22nd (14:25.09) and Forrest Shaffer was 27th (14:37.96).
Ja'Maun Charles (freshman, Pleasanton, Calif.) advanced to the final of the men's 60m dash with his prelim time of 6.80 and then returned to the oval to score in eighth place in the 200m dash with a time of 21.86. Just missing the scoring places were Zach Smith (PR 21.88 - 9th) and Terrance Chambers (21.92 - 10th) with Jonnie Green's PR time of 22.14 15th.
Dominique Keel placed ninth in the women's 200m dash with a time of 24.10 with Regyn Gaffney 22nd (24.99) and Holly DeHart 27th (25.38).
The WSU men's distance medley relay team of four freshmen broke their frosh school record time set earlier this season. Chandler Teigen, Ray Littles, Reid Muller and Nathan Tadesse finished seventh Friday night with a time of 9:53.49, slicing six seconds off their previous record time.
WSU ran a women's distance medley relay for the first time this year, finishing 11th with the team of Jenaya Pynn, Stephanie Cho, Grace Victor and Steffie Pavey's time of 12:06.08.
In field event finals, Brock Eager (sophomore, Renton, Wash.) took sixth place in the men's 35-pound weight throw with a mark of 59-10 1/2 (18.25m) and Adam Mahama (redshirt junior, Pullman) scored in seventh place with a huge four and a half-foot PR toss of 59-10 1/4 (18.24m). Travis Pickett finished ninth with a toss of 58-5 1/4 (17.81m).
Katie Wardsworth was 17th in the women's weight throw (53-4 1/2 / 16.27m), Katelyn Frost did not clear a bar in the pole vault. Peyton Fredrickson finished 17th in the men's long jump with a mark of 21-4 1/4 (6.51m).
After the first day of the heptathlon, Dino Dodig (junior, Novi Sad, Serbia) is in fifth place in the 17-man competition with 3,027 points. He opened with a 60m dash time of 7.19, long jumped 23-1 1/4 (7.04m) which equals his PR mark, threw the shot put 41-7 3/4 (12.69m), and cleared 6-4 (1.93m) in the high jump. UCLA's Steele Wasik leads the heptathlon with 3,257 points.
Cougars racing in prelims Friday but not advancing to Saturday finals included ShaRaya Quinn who ran a PR time in the 60m hurdles of 8.86 (13th), and men's 60m hurdlers CJ Allen (8.17 - 10th), Ian Markham (PR 8.17 - 11th), Abu Kamara (8.19 - 12th) and Christapherson Grant (8.40 - 14th). The women's 60m dash racers were Sarah Stavig (7.68 - 20th), Danielle Darden (7.71 - 23rd), and Holly DeHart (7.80 - 28th). Zach Smith ran the 60m dash prelims in a time of 6.94, 17th place.
The team scores after the first day show the Oregon women leading with 23 points and WSU eighth with 20 points while the BYU men are leading with 33 points and WSU men are 12th with 8 points.
“It was a solid first day highlighted by Liz Harper and Alissa Brooks-Johnson's two-three finish in the pentathlon,” Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Wayne Phipps said. “Alissa battled through a low back injury to move from fourth to third after the 800m. And now both athletes have put themselves in a great position to advance to the NCAA finals. Liz also had an amazing high jump today. CharLee Linton went from a 10th-seed to finishing third in a tactical 5000m and still ended up breaking our school record. It was also exciting to see a different group of freshmen guys break our freshman record in the DMR, highlighted by an awesome 800m leg by Reid Muller. Our weight throwers and 200m runners also great days. And for freshman Ja'Maun Charles to score in the 200m after making the 60m finals was outstanding.”
The MPSF Championships conclude Saturday, with the first event at 10:30 a.m. and the final event scheduled for 2:30 p.m.