WASHINGTON STATE TRACK & FIELD OPENS OUTDOOR SEASON
The Washington State track and field teams open the 2017 outdoor season at the USC Trojan Invitational, March 17-18, at Loker Stadium-Cromwell Field in Los Angeles...teams scheduled to compete in addition to host USC and WSU include BYU, Washington, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, and Portland State...Friday, March 17, the hammer and discus throws will be held at 
Long Beach State's Jack Rose Track starting at 1 p.m. with a distance carnival (no WSU competitors) back at USC's Loker Stadium at 5 p.m...Saturday, March 18, both field and running events begin at 10 a.m...a small contingent of Cougars will also compete at the Buc Scoring Invite, Saturday, March 18 at Whitworth University in Spokane.

WAYNE PHIPPS, DIR. OF WSU CROSS COUNTRY/TRACK & FIELD
Wayne Phipps (University of British Columbia '91) is in his third season with the Washington State track and field program...he became the 15th men's coach and the second coach for the combined men's and women's program at WSU on July 1, 2014, after 19 years at the University of Idaho...Phipps led the Cougar men's cross country program back-to-back NCAA Championships at-large berth appearances with a 14th-place finish in 2016: the highest in 32 years after the entire 2015 team that placed 26th returned for the 2016 season....during the 2016 Track & Field season, a pair of Cougs earned second-team All-America honors...Cougars tallied 25 new entries into the WSU all-time top ten records...while at Idaho, Phipps was conference coach of the year 14 times, and led the Vandals to a record 16 conference titles.

COUGAR TRACK & FIELD COACHING STAFF
WSU Track & Field coaching staff includes Associate Head Coaches Julie Taylor (throws), and  Yogi Teevens (sprints, relays and horizontal jumps)...Assistant Coaches are Brad Walker (vertical jumps), Allix Potratz-Lee (distance) and Ryan Grinnell (multis and horizontal jumps)...Andrea Sabbatine is the Operations Coordinator...volunteers this year include: Jesse Jorgensen, CharLee Linton, Tim Taylor and Kayla Warren.

2017 WSU TEAM CAPTAINS
Track - CJ Allen (M), Liz Harper (W)
Distance - John Whelan (M), Devon Bortfeld (W)
Field - Travis Pickett (M), Katie Wardsworth (W)

WSU 2017 INDOOR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
The Washington State men's and women's track and field teams completed the 2017 indoor season at the MPSF Championships, Feb. 24-25, in Seattle...the WSU women placed eighth and the Cougar men placed 10th...there were some outstanding performances during the 2017 indoor season...junior Devon Bortfeld broke the women's school indoor record for the 5000m twice with the final time of 16:16.42 also being the third-best time either indoor or outdoor in WSU all-time...Bortfeld also ran the third-best 3000m time in WSU records with a time of 9:22.54...sophomore Regyn Gaffney tied the women's school record in the 60m dash with her time of 7.45...other WSU all-time records achieved in 2017: senior Kiana Davis triple jumped 12.66m/41-6 1/2 which is fourth-best...redshirt junior Katie Wardsworth reached 17.87m/ 58-7 1/2 in the weight throw, seventh-best and redshirt freshman Aoife Martin had a weight throw of 15.96m/52-4 1/2 for ninth-best...sophomore Lindsey Schauble tallied 3,558 points in the pentathlon which is eighth-best...on the men's side, Sam Brixey broke the freshman school 60m hurdles record with his 7.93 time...redshirt sophomore Brock Eager threw the 35-pound weight 20.33m/66-8 1/2 which is third-best in WSU records...during the 2017 indoor season, Cougars equaled or surpassed lifetime-best marks 106 times: 59 times by men and 47 times by women.

NCAA DESCENDING ORDER LISTS
The NCAA uses national descending order lists to determine the competitors for the 2017 Outdoor Championships...these lists can be viewed at the United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Track & Field Results Reporting System website (www.tfrrs.org)...the top 48 in each event advances to the East or West Region Preliminary Rounds...West Region Prelims are 25-27, in Austin, Texas...WSU's 2017 outdoor season bests marks can be found at www.wsucougars.com. 

COUGARS ENTERED IN USC TROJAN INVITE, MARCH 17-18, LOS ANGELES: 
MEN 
100m - Jamal Brinkley, Ja'Maun Charles, Ethan Gardner, Zach Smith
200m - Corey Allen, Jamal Brinkley, Sam Brixey, Ja'Maun Charles, Ethan Gardner, Zach Smith
400m - Corey Allen, Ray Littles, Matthew Swanson
800m - Justin Janke, Reid Muller, Paul Ryan, Nathan Tadesse, Chandler Teigen
1500m - Sam Levora, Kyler Little, Kennan Schrag, Chandler Teigen, Nathan Wadhwani
3000m - No entry
110m Hurdles - Sam Brixey, Nick Johnson, Christapherson Grant, Abu Kamara, Ian Markham
400m Hurdles - CJ Allen, Sam Brixey, Ian Markham
3000m Steeplechase - No entry
4x100m relay - Smith, Charles, Gardner, Allen
4x400m Relay - No entry
High Jump - Max English, Peyton Fredrickson, Keelan Halligan, Cole Smith
Pole Vault -  Dino Dodig, Troy Ginigerich
Long Jump - Robby Flores, Josh Schulz
Triple Jump - Robby Flores
Shot Put - Jake Callaghan
Discus - Tyler Jackson, Adam Mahama
Hammer - Brock Eager, Wyatt Meyring, Travis Pickett
Javelin - Cole Smith, Brad Stevens

2017 Washington State University Track & Field Top Returners

Returning Pac-12 Championships Men Scorers:
CJ Allen, 400m Hurdles: 2014 (1st); 2016 (1st)
Dino Dodig, Decathlon: 2015 (5th); 2016 (4th)
Brock Eager, Hammer: 2015 (8th)
Peyton Fredrickson, High Jump: 2016 (t-7th)
Brad Stevens, Javelin: 2015 (8th); 2016 (6th)
Travis Pickett, Hammer: 2016 (8th)
4x400m Relay (Little, Allen, Dodig, Swanson): 2016 (6th)

Returning NCAA Outdoor Championships Men Participants:
CJ Allen, 400m Hurdles: 2016 (12th)
Dino Dodig, Decathlon: 2015 (DNF) 


COUGARS ENTERED IN USC TROJAN INVITE, MARCH 17-18, LOS ANGELES: 
WOMEN 
100m - Danielle Darden, Regyn Gaffney,  Lauren Newman, Tierney Silliman, Jordyn Tucker
200m - Danielle Darden, Regyn Gaffney, Tierney Silliman, Jordyn Tucker
800m - Natalie Ackerley, Marlow Schulz, Grace Victor
1500m - Devon Bortfeld, Emily Dwyer, Melissa Hruska, Vallery Korir, Morgan Lash, Morgan Willson
3000m - No entry
100m Hurdles - Alissa Brooks-Johnson, Liz Harper, Lindsey Schauble
400m Hurdles- Stephanie Cho, Liz Harper, Lindsey Schauble
3000m Steeplechase - No entry
4x100m Relay - Tucker, Gaffney, Silliman, Darden
4x400m Relay - No entry
High Jump - Alissa Brooks-Johnson, Kiana Davis, Lateah Holmes
Pole Vault - Molly Scharmann
Long Jump - Greer Alsop, Kiana Davis, Lauren Newman, Lindsey Schauble
Triple Jump - Greer Alsop, Kiana Davis
Shot Put - Alissa Brooks-Johnson, Chrisshnay Brown, Liz Harper
Discus - Chrisshnay  Brown, Kaitlin Krouse
Hammer - Kaitlin Krouse, Aoife Martin, Katie Wardsworth
Javelin - Alissa Brooks-Johnson, Atina Kamasi, Kelsey Kehl, Liz Harper

2017 Washington State University Track & Field Top Returners
Returning Pac-12 Championships Women Scorers:
Greer Alsop, Triple Jump: 2015 (8th); 2016 (5th)
Alissa Brooks-Johnson, Heptathlon: 2014 (2nd); 2015 (1st)
    400m Hurdles: 2015 (7th)
Kiana Davis, High Jump: 2016 (2nd)
Kristine Felix, Pole Vault: 2013 (1st); 2014 (t-6th); 2015 (4th)
Liz Harper, 400m Hurdles: 2015 (4th), 2016 (4th)
    High Jump: 2016 (4th) / Heptathlon: 2016 (3rd)
Lateah Holmes, High Jump: 2016 (t-6th)

Returning NCAA Outdoor Women Participants:
Alissa Brooks-Johnson, Heptathlon: 2015 (18th)
    400m Hurdles: 2015 (23rd)
Liz Harper, 400m Hurdles: 2015 (19th)
    High Jump: 2016 (NH)
    Heptathlon: 2016 (16th)

COUGARS RANKED IN THE TRACK & FIELD NEWS 2017 COLLEGE PREVIEW    
Track & Field News published the top 15 performers for NCAA DI in the March 2017 issue...rankings are based on PRs.
MEN
400m Hurdles: CJ Allen - 50.16 (14th)
WOMEN
Heptathlon: Alissa Brooks-Johnson - 5,803 points (9th)