Top-10 List Assaulted As Husky Classic Delivers

Courtesy Univesity of Washington

Senior Ryan Vu cleared 17-feet, 7-inches, a new PR indoors in the pole vault, and that should take him to NCAAs next month at Texas A&M.

Ryan Vu

Class:
Senior

Hometown:
Bellevue, Wash.

High School:
Interlake

Event:
Pole Vault

Experience:
4V

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2011 UW OPEN MEET
February 13, 2011
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» Complete Husky Classic Results


SEATTLE - A jam-packed Dempsey Indoor facility witnessed mark after NCAA-leading mark today and the Washington men's and women's track teams did some major overhauling of the recordbooks as the Flotrack Husky Classic wrapped up this evening after nearly 12 straight hours of action. Senior Colton Tully-Doyle headlined the Husky effort as he set a new school record in the 3,000-meters while at the same time solidifying himself a spot at nationals.

Colton Tully-Doyle

Class:
Senior

Hometown:
San Diego, Calif.

High School:
Rancho Bernardo

Last College:
UC Santa Barbara

Position:
Distances

Experience:
3V

All told the two-day meet produced 51 marks surpassing the stringent NCAA Automatic qualifying standards, some going to renowned professionals but dozens to collegians, who visited Seattle as a gateway to the NCAA Indoor Championships next month in College Station, Texas. Washington also added a remarkable 14 new marks to its indoor Top-10 lists today.

The eyes of track fans across the nation were on many of the distance events late in the afternoon, especially the men's 3k, where a plethora of NCAA Champions and U.S. Olympians, and U.S. record-holders congregated in the final section. American mile record-holder Alan Webb was a late addition to a field that included 2008 U.S. 5k Olympian Ian Dobson and 2010 U.S. 5k runner-up Tim Nelson, plus current NCAA cross country and 10k champ Sam Chelanga. Mixing it up with the superstar field was Tully-Doyle, who patiently ran in the midst of the pack, trusting the fast time would come. Despite some jostling, Tully-Doyle powered to the line in 7:53.13, ninth overall and sixth among NCAA competitors in what could have been an NCAA preview.

Sophomore James Cameron also jumped up to third on the 3k list, barely missing the 8-minute barrier in a time of 8:00.17 that would have placed him 19th nationally entering the weekend. Rob Webster Jr. also was very impressive in his season-opener, running 8:13.63 for a 14 second personal-best.

James Cameron

Class:
Sophomore

Hometown:
Lake Forest, Calif.

High School:
Mission Viejo

Position:
Distances

Experience:
1V

The Husky women were equally fantastic in the 3k, showing incredible depth with five women going under 9:35 today, which previously was the No. 10 mark in program history. Freshman Katie Flood clocked 9:21.88 for the No. 4 time in school history, and fellow frosh Chelsea Orr ran 9:26.73 out of the second-fastest heat for the No. 6 time. Both Flood and Orr were in the top-seven at the U.S. Junior Cross Country Championships just last weekend.
Sophomore Justine Johnson again lowered her 3k PR as well to 9:31.86, moving her up to No. 8 on the list, and sophomore Phoebe Merritt ran a 9:33.47 which now puts her just on the outskirts of the Top-10, but up until today would have been eighth overall. And all that was on the heels of freshman Megan Goethals, who took third overall in a time of 9:18.09 which would rank third on UW's Top-10 list, except Goethals competed unattached, keeping open the redshirt option.

The Huskies got a very impressive season debut from senior Dominique Lauderdale, who sped to the victory in the women's 60-meter dash in a new personal-best time of 7.48 seconds. That vaults Lauderdale into third on the Washington Top-10 list after only running the 60m once before for the Dawgs. A 100-meter Pac-10 finalist a year ago and NCAA Prelim qualifier, Lauderdale looks to be on track for a big senior year after today's opener.

After opening the day strong with Lauderdale, the women's sprints group closed impressively as well, as the 4x400m relay of Michelle Fero, Johanna Carr, Kayla Stueckle, and Jordan Carlson took second overall in 3:46.83, ranking sixth all-time and the fastest since 2006.

A pair of Husky men had breakthroughs in the mid-distances. Junior Ryan Styrk lowered his 800-meter best for the second meet in a row, and cracked the 1:50 barrier for the first time in his career, clocking 1:49.93 to move up another spot to fourth on the UW Top-10 list. Junior Ryan Soberanis then followed suit with an excellent mile run, as he clocked in at 4:04.71, becoming just the sixth Husky to go under 4:05.

A long-awaited day came today for senior Ryan Vu, who should feel confident in earning his first trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships in his final season, as he cleared 17-7 in the pole vault, an indoor PR of six inches. While it's not an NCAA Auto mark, that clearance would have ranked sixth entering the weekend, and has always been enough to make Nationals in recent years. That pushed Vu up to sixth in the Husky books as well.

After setting the school record in the heptathlon two weeks ago and securing his spot at the NCAA Championships, Jeremy Taiwo was back in action this week, focusing on a few individual events. The focus paid of huge in the high jump, where Taiwo shattered his PR with a clearance of 6-feet, 11.5-inches. He then took three great attempts at 7-1, barely missing on all three. In the record-setting heptathlon, Taiwo cleared just 6-5 in the high jump. The extra high jump bars would have boosted his score another 148 points.

Taiwo was then matched in the high jump later in the afternoon by freshman A.J. Maricich of Spokane. Maricich cleared 6-9 ½ on his first attempt, then came through with a clutch third attempt clearance at 6-11 ½. Taiwo and Maricich now sit in a tie for seventh on the school's indoor Top-10.

Kelly McNamee had another solid outing in the high jump, tying for third with a clearance of 5-8, just missing the 5-10 bar she cleared two weeks prior.

One of the most consistent Huskies in the early going has been sophomore sprinter Colton Dunn. Continuing to show major improvement from year one, Dunn cut his 400-meter PR down to 47.90, just on the cusp of the school's Top-10. That was the third-fastest time of the day, and nearly a three-second improvement over Dunn's freshman PR of 50.32. Freshman Michelle Fero dropped her season-best in the 400-meters down to 56.68 seconds, placing ninth overall.

Junior Taylor Nichols PR'd once again in the women's triple jump, with three jumps over 40-feet, and a best of 40-5 ½, good for third on the day and improving her own No. 4 mark on the Husky Top-10 list. Sophomore Shaniae Lakes also upped her season-best to 39-3 to place sixth.

In the men's long jump, multi-eventer Kale Schmidt extended his long jump PR, flying past 23-feet for the first time to take sixth at 23-2 ½. Freshman record-holder Kasen Covington was sixth in the triple jump, going 49-6 ¼ on his first attempt.

The Huskies will return to their humble abode in two weeks to host the annual MPSF Championships on Feb. 25-26.