SEATTLE -- The Washington State's men's track and field team took fifth place, the highest finish since 2013 and the best finish in Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Wayne Phipps' tenure, Saturday at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships at the University of Washington Dempsey Indoor Facility.
 
After strong performances Friday, including Brock Eager winning the men's weight throw, the Cougars relied on middle of the pack scoring Saturday.
 
A pair of Cougs scored in the men's 60m hurdles final. Nick Johnson (sophomore, Spokane, Wash.) placed fourth with a time of 8.00 seconds and Christapherson Grant (junior, Lynnwood, Wash.) took sixth place with a time of 8.09.
 
Ja'Maun Charles (junior, Pleasanton, Calif.) ran a time of 6.82 in the men's 60m dash final for fourth place. The men's 4x400m relay of Grant, Charles, Corey Allen and Ray Littles ran a season-best time of 3 minutes 17.76 seconds but finished just out of the scoring in ninth place.
 
Justin Janke (sophomore, Spokane) grabbed a fifth-place finish in the men's 800m with a time of 1:52.39, his indoor PR.
 
Freshman Martin Moldau (Rakvere, Estonia) took fourth place in the men's heptathlon with 4,837 points. In the final three events, Moldau ran the 60m hurdles in a time of 9.00, pole vaulted 14-feet 9 inches (4.50m), and ran the 1,000m in a time of 3:08.39. Andrew Ghizzone from Colorado won the heptathlon with 5,519 points.
 
In field events Saturday, Peyton Fredrickson (junior, Ridgefield, Wash.) scored in the men's high jump with his seventh-place leap of 6-8 3/4 (2.05m). Robby Flores (junior, El Paso, Texas) triple jumped 47-1 3/4 (14.37m) for eighth place.
 
WSU's women's team scored 28 points and finished 10th. Scoring Saturday for the WSU women included Greer Alsop (redshirt senior, Invercargill, New Zealand) who leaped to sixth place in the triple jump with a mark of 39-11 1/2 (12.18m).
 
The women's 4x400m relay comprised of Stephanie Cho, Marlow Schulz, Alissa Brooks-Johnson and Jelena Grujic ran a season-best time of 3:45.41 and scored with an eighth-place finish.
 
Kaili Keefe finished 16th in the mile but improved her PR time to 4:46.87 which is fourth-best in WSU all-time. In the 3000m, Vallery Korir ran a PR time of 9:26.91 for 10th place but that time is fifth-fastest in WSU history.
 
THEY SAID:
Wayne Phipps, WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field said, "We had more great performances today led by Ja'Maun in the 60m and Nick and Chris in the 60m hurdles. Justin Janke doubled back from a great run in last night's DMR and overcame a near fall early in the race to score well in his first open 800m of the year. I was very pleased with our fifth place finish in the largest conference meet in the nation. The overall team effort and performance at this meet was a great way to end the regular indoor season and bodes well for us as we begin our preparation for outdoors."
 
COUGARS MPSF SATURDAY NON-SCORING RESULTS
Men
400m - Corey Allen 49.41 (22nd)
800m - Zach Stallings 1:53.63 (11th), Reid Muller 1:55.01 (18th)
Mile - Paul Ryan 4:12.48 (21st)
3000m - Chandler Teigen 8:10.21 (21st), Colton Johnsen 8:11.43 (22nd), John Whelan 8:19.92 (28th),
      Michael Williams DNF
High Jump - Max English 2.05m/6-8 3/4 (10th), Mitch Jacobson 2.00m/6-6 3/4 (13th),
      Keelan Halligan 1.95m/6-4 3/4 (15th)
Triple Jump - Jeremiah Stone 13.97m/45-10 (12th)
 
Women
400m - Stephanie Cho PR 55.38 (14th)
800m - Marlow Schulz PR 2:09.29 (9th), Zorana Grujic 2:10.80 (15th),
      Natalie Ackerley PR 2:12.59 (23rd), Jelena Grujic 2:14.27 (26th), Grace Victor 2:14.82 (29th)
Mile - Marie Gaudin PR 5:02.62 (29th)
3000m - Devon Bortfeld 9:38.09 (13th), Josie Brown 10:07.35 (45th)
High Jump - Alissa Brooks-Johnson 1.61m/5-3 1/4 (20th)
Triple Jump - Oyinlola Akinlosotu 11.64m/38-2 1/4 (14th), Brittni Williams 11.32m/37-1 3/4 (20th)
Shot Put - Chrisshnay Brown 13.56m/44-6 (14th)
 
NOTEWORTHY:

• MPSF men's team scores: 1. USC 107; 2. BYU 75.5; 3. Oregon 65; 4. UCLA 62; 5. WSU 54; 6. Colorado 49; 7. Washington 46.5; 8. California 46; 9. Arizona 42; 10. Stanford 36; 11. Long Beach State 22 and Arizona State 22; 13. Portland 20; 14. Cal State Northridge 13; 15. UC Riverside 1.
• MPSF women's team scores: 1. USC 122; 2. Stanford 98; 3. Oregon 84; 4. California 56; 5. UCLA 55; 6. Colorado 41; 7. BYU 37; 8. Arizona State 35; 9. Washington 30; 10. WSU 28; 11. Arizona 22; 12. UC Davis 12; 13. Hawai'i 10; 14. Long Beach State 8; 15. Utah 7; 16. San Francisco 6; 17. Cal State Fullerton 5; 18. Cal State Northridge 4; 19. UC Riverside 3.
• The NCAA DI Indoor Track & Field Championships take place March 9-10 in College Station Texas.