LOS ANGELES -- Washington State track and field competitors won nine events on a warm and windy Tuesday afternoon at the Jim Bush Collegiate Invitational at UCLA's Drake Stadium, and broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network. Using international scoring of 7-5-4-3-2-1 (relays 7-5-4), UCLA won the men's team title with 151 points with WSU second with 127.5 points, and Arizona third with 104.5 points. The Bruins also won the women's team title with 161 points followed by Arizona's 133 points and WSU scoring 107 points.
CJ Allen (junior, Allyn, Wash.) won the men's 400m hurdles with a PR and current nation-leading time of 50.55 seconds, moving him to eighth-best in WSU all-time records. Ian Markham (junior, Oak Park, Calif.) took fourth in a PR time of 56.19.
In the first event of the meet, Travis Pickett (redshirt junior, Snohomish, Wash.) got the Cougars rolling with a win in the men's hammer throw, tossing a distance of 182-11 (55.75m). Amani Brown (redshirt freshman, Seattle) scored with a fourth-place finish with a toss of 157-4 (47.96m).
Senior CharLee Linton (Shoreline, Wash.) won the women's 3000m after leading from nearly start to finish in a time of 9 minutes, 53.35 seconds with Morgan Willson (redshirt junior, Colfax, Wash.) running a PR time of 10:04.95 for fourth place. Linton came back 100 minutes later to place fourth in the 1500m with a time of 4:39.97 with Jenaya Pynn (freshman, Nanaimo, B.C. Canada) fifth in a time of 4:41.15.
Battling the heat and wind conditions in the late afternoon, John Whelan (junior, Etna, Calif.) won the men's 3000m with a time of 8:28.32 with Michael Williams (sophomore, Richland, Wash.) third in a time of 8:31.02.
Thane Pierson (senior, Naches, Wash.) won the men's high jump after clearing 6-feet, 11 inches (2.11m) and Peyton Fredrickson (freshman, Vancouver, Wash.) placed fifth leaping over the bar at 6-5 (1.96m).
Greer Alsop (redshirt sophomore, Invercargill, New Zealand) won the women's triple jump on her final attempt of the day, a leap of 40-8 3/4 (12.41m), an outdoor PR mark for her, and placed sixth in the long jump with a mark of 18-4 1/2 (5.60m).
Brad Stevens (redshirt sophomore, Snoqualmie, Wash.) won the men's javelin with a throw of 203-7 (62.06m) after contending with the restrictive crosswinds throughout the competition.
Zach Smith, Ja'Maun Charles, Terrance Chambers, and Jonnie Green won the men's 4x100 relay in a time of 40.70. Later, Charles led a second-through-fourth finish in the 100m dash with his PR time of 10.59, followed by Smith in a time of 10.70 and Chambers third in a PR time of 10.72. Charles was the top Cougar in the 200m at third place with a PR time of 21.37 and Smith finished fifth with a time of 21.82. Cougar men scoring in the 400m dash were Ray Littles (freshman, Issaquah, Wash.) in fifth with a time of 50.48, and Green in seventh with a time of 51.27.
Matthew Swanson (redshirt junior, North Vancouver, B.C. Canada) ran a superb 800m race, getting a win with a time of 1:52.32 after Arizona's Collins Kibet was disqualified after crossing the finish line first. Reid Muller (freshman, Pitt Meadows, B.C. Canada) moved up to the runner-up spot with a time of 1:54.54.
In the men's first running event of the day, Forrest Shaffer (redshirt senior, Petaluma, Calif.) was the runner-up in time of 9:00.90 seconds with freshman Nathan Wadhwani (Maple Ridge, B.C. Canada), making his collegiate steeplechase debut, scored in fifth place with a time of 9:29.90.
Sam Levora (sophomore, Sandpoint, Idaho) used a late kick to claim second place in the men's 1500m with a PR time of 3:51.26 with Chandler Teigen (freshman, Anatone, Wash.) fifth in a time of 3:55.38. Cougar freshman Nathan Tadesse (Surrey, B.C. Canada) took sixth place in a time of 3:56.73 but did not score as the meet allows only two competitors to score per event.
Abu Kamara (redshirt sophomore, Kent, Wash.) was the runner-up in the men's 110m hurdles with a time of 14.68 while Christapherson Grant (freshman, Lynnwood, Wash.) took fourth in a time of 14.99.
Devon Bortfeld (sophomore, Sammamish, Wash.) was the runner-up in the women's 3000m steeplechase with a PR time of 10:44.33 which in ninth-best in WSU all-time records. Emily Dwyer (senior, Sammamish, Wash.), running in her first collegiate steeplechase, placed third in a time of 11:16.10.
Regyn Gaffney, Danielle Darden, Christiana Ekelem, and Dominique Keel took second in the women's 4x100m relay in a time of 44.75, third-fastest in WSU all-time records. Ekelem finished third in the 400m dash with a time of 56.22 while Gaffney placed fifth in a time of 57.85. Keel was third in the 100m dash with a non-wind-aided PR time of 11.73 while Darden finished seventh in a time of 12.16. In the 200m dash, Keel placed third with a time of 24.23 and Darden placed seventh in a time of 25.10.
In the women's throws, Katie Wardsworth (redshirt sophomore, Spokane Valley, Wash.) was the runner-up in the hammer throw with a mark of 172-11 (52.71m). Kelsie Taylor (senior, Naches, Wash.) was the runner-up in the javelin with a toss of 132-10 (40.49m) and Alissa Brooks-Johnson (junior, Doty, Wash.) took third with a mark of 129-5 (39.46m). Discus throwers Chrisshnay Brown (freshman, Lompoc, Calif.) took fourth place with a toss of 147-7 (44.98m) and Kaitlin Krouse (redshirt freshman, Chewelah, Wash.) placed sixth with a throw of 135-0 (41.15m). Both women also threw the shot put with Brown fifth with a toss of 40-2 3/4 (12.26m) and Krouse sixth with a mark of 38-1 1/2 (11.62m).
Scoring for the women in the long jump was Liz Harper (junior, Missoula, Mont.) taking second with a PR leap of 19-8 3/4 (6.01m), ninth-best WSU all-time records. Harper was also the top 100m hurdles placer for WSU with a PR time of 14.03 for fourth place and took a third place in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:00.94.
In the women's high jump, Lateah Holmes (senior, Fife, Wash.) took fourth with a clearance at 5-6 1/2 (1.69m), with Kiana Davis (junior, Longview, Wash.) fifth and Audrey Ketcham (senior, Wenatchee, Wash.) sixth after both cleared 5-5 1/4 (1.66m). Triple jumpers Kiana Davis (junior, Longview, Wash.) took third place with an outdoor PR mark of 40-6 3/4 (12.36m), while Kayla Warren (senior, Seattle) placed fourth with her leap of 40-3 /12 (12.28m).
Other women scoring on the track for WSU included Grace Victor (freshman, Wakerley, Australia) at fifth place in the women's 800m with a time of 2:16.35, and ShaRaya Quinn (sophomore, Puyallup, Wash.) with eighth in the 100m hurdles in a time of 14.82.
Freshman Robby Flores (El Paso, Texas) took second place in the men's triple jump with a leap of 48-1 3/4 (14.67m), just 1/4 inch under his PR. In the men's long jump, Dino Dodig (junior, Novi Sad, Serbia) and Fredrickson tied for sixth place with leaps of 22-2 1/4 (6.76m) with Dodig's jump wind-aided and Fredrickson's jump wind-legal and a PR mark for him. Dodig also scored in a fourth-place finish in the pole vault with at clearance of 13-1 3/4 (4.01m).
Matt Wardell (senior, Port Falls, Idaho) placed sixth in the men's shot put with a toss of 53-0 1/4 (16.16m). Jake Callaghan (redshirt sophomore, Yakima, Wash.) threw a PR of 53-5 3/4 (16.30m) for fifth place. Adam Mahama (redshirt junior, Pullman, Wash.) scored at sixth place in the discus with a PR throw of 157-1 (47.88m).
In the final women's race of the day, the 4x400m relay of Keel, Brooks-Johnson, Ekelem and Gaffney finished second in a time of 3:42.50. The men's 4x400m relay of Charles, Allen, Green and Swanson also took second place with a time of 3:13.75.
“It was a good opening weekend for us. It was exciting to get back to competition after some time away and the live televised team scoring format makes it even more so,” WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Wayne Phipps said. “At USC Brad Stevens had an awesome opener and threw a mark that would qualify him for the NCAA finals. Dominique Keel was an iron woman for us today competing in four events and anchoring a great 4x1 for us. CJ Allen running the number one time in the nation on a windy day bodes well for our season-end goals. He was about a second and half faster this year at this meet than last year. It was great to see another one of our team captains, Travis Pickett, perform so well. He was out all of last year so it was extra special to see him win today. Greer Alsop came up big on her very last jump to win the triple jump. Freshman Ja'Maun Charles was our iron man and had just an amazing day running lifetime bests in the 100m and 200m and running great legs in both the 4x1 and 4x4. Thane Pierson capped off a great weekend by winning the high jump after a great opener at USC. It was an awesome week of hard training and great competition but we are looking forward to getting back home.”
A limited number of Cougars will compete at the Mike Keller Invitational Saturday at Moscow, Idaho.