Track Top-10 Attacked Again At UW Invitational

Track Top-10 Attacked Again At UW Invitational

Two Dempsey records clocked including the second-best mile in the world this year.

Colton Tully-Doyle's 8:00.55 in the 3,000-meters now ranks fifth in Division-I this season.

Colton Tully-Doyle Class:Junior Hometown:San Diego, Calif. High School:Rancho Bernardo Last College:UC Santa Barbara Position:Distances Experience:1V

Top Pros Join Huskies At UW Invitational

Jan. 30, 2010

SEATTLE - Another chapter of Dempsey Indoor history has been entered into the recordbooks, as the two day UW Invitational track meet wrapped up this evening with some record-setting runs and dozens of NCAA qualifying marks. The performance of the night was authored by elite U.S. pro Chris Solinsky, as he broke the Dempsey mile record with an incredible 3:55.75.

All told, 45 NCAA qualifying marks were set by collegiate athletes over the two day meet. The top mark for Washington's 25th-ranked men's team was provided by junior Colton Tully-Doyle. Coming off a career year with cross country, Tully-Doyle translated his fall success to the track today, as he placed 10th in an elite 3,000-meter field with a big PR of 8:00.55. He was fourth among NCAA competitors. It is the first NCAA Provisional mark of Tully-Doyle's career and is the second-fastest in UW history indoors.

Senior Katie Follett, attempting to add to the three indoor All-America honors she already owns, ran her first indoor 800-meters and posted the second-best time in school history with a mark of 2:07.80. The Fort Collins, Colo. native now ranks first or second in four different events on the Washington indoor Top-10 lists.

In the sprints, Seattle native Bianca Greene took third overall in the 200-meters in a time of 24.99. Just a redshirt freshman indoors, Greene's time ranks her sixth in school history inside. Freshman James Alaka of London, the British U-23 100m champion, led the men in the 60m dash, placing fourth overall in 6.87. Sophomore Ryan Hamilton (6.96) and senior Kenjamine Jackson (6.99) also went under seven seconds for UW. Nike sprinter Zeus Bailey also matched Husky legend Ja'Warren Hooker's Dempsey record in the 60 dash, clocking 6.63 seconds in the prelims.

Turning back to the other record of the day, Solinsky may want to become more of a regular at the Dempsey, as he now holds the mile record as well as the 5,000-meter record (13:30.74) which he set in 2007 as a senior at Wisconsin. Solinsky was 12th at the World Championships for Team USA last year. His mile time ranks as the second-fastest time in the world this year, and surpasses the old facility record of 3:56.00 set in 2008 by Steve Sherer.

Close on Solinsky's heels was 2008 U.S. Olympian Galen Rupp, who clocked 3:56.22. Also breaking the four-minute mile barrier were Abdi Hassan of Arizona (3:59.76) and Cameron Levins of Southern Utah (3:59.80).

"The Dempsey lived up to its reputation once again today," said Husky head coach Greg Metcalf. "There were fantastic performances in every area of the building today, from sprints to vaults, jumps, throws, and as usual the distance events were outstanding. Colton was a definite highlight for us tonight, as was our men's sprints group. Katie Follett is going to be phenomenal this year; tonight was just a small indication."

Other strong performances for UW included sophomore Ryan Styrk who won his 800-meter heat, lowering his PR in the process to 1:52.48. Fellow sophomore Ryan Soberanis also posted a solid 1:52.62 to finish fifth among NCAA competitors. Freshman Colton Dunn was third in the 200m dash in a time of 22.18.

In the throws, senior Zack Midles opened his season with a seventh-place weight throw finish, tossing 58-4. Sophomore Richard Anderson had the best shot put mark of the day for the Dawgs at 51-3 ¾. In the women's weight, senior Korede Oyetuga added a couple inches to her PR, which now at 51-9 ranks fourth on the school Top-10.

The men's heptathlon wrapped up today with junior Andrew Ferleman upping his personal-best by about 50 points to 5,220, which was good for eighth overall. Ferleman's career-day ranks second in school history indoors. Freshman Bryce Borer scored 4,702 points in his first multi-event, already ranking him fifth in school history, while sophomore Jake Vetter upped his PR by more than 400 points, scoring 4,649 to rank just ahead of sohpomore Jeremy Lashinske who posted 4,634 in his first heptathlon.

The Huskies now get back to the business of improving for the next two weeks until they play host again to the Husky Classic, traditionally the largest meet of the year, set for Feb. 12-13.

Courtesy Washington