The Cougs had a great weekend at the Pac-12 Invitational Championship Meet in Seattle. Eight Cougs placed in the top five for their events and several others had top-10 placements. 

Three Cougars traveled to the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Spokane at The Podium.

“All three of these student-athletes have had a huge impact on our program over the past few years and I could not be more proud of them all,” WSU head coach Wayne Phipps said. 

Graduate student Sam Brixey placed 10th in the men’s 60-meter race with a time of 7.73 seconds. He did not have the chance to compete in the finals, as he was just .04 seconds behind the qualifying time. Graduate student Nick Johnson competed in the 60-meter event as well. He placed sixth overall with a run of 7.89 seconds in the finals. 

Graduate student Colton Johnsen was the lone collegiate athlete running in the 1,500-meter event. He ran a time of 3:51.79. 

“The experience gained by competing at this meet will be very beneficial moving forward to NCAA nationals and future national championships,” Phipps said. 

Only a few Cougs will be traveling to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Ala. on March 11-12. So far, only Johnsen and Brixey have qualified for the championship meet.

Three underclassmen have had standout performances this season and finished out the indoor season with great performances at the Pac-12 championship. Freshmen Alexandra Payne and Antonia Buschendorf had top-ten program records. Sophomore Peyton Teevens also had a top-10 program record. 

“This was a great meet to end the regular season. We had a number of outstanding performances, including several all-time top-10 marks at WSU and top-three performances at this meet,” Phipps said. 

Graduate student Zach Stallings ran the mile in 3:58.96. This was his fourth mile under four minutes, fast enough for second place. 

Johnson and senior Joseph Heitman finished inside of the top-five in the 60-meter hurdles. Johnson placed second overall to clinch his fifth top-three finish of the season. Johnson had a time of 7.86 seconds. Heitman finished fifth overall with a time of 8.28 seconds. Heitman was .02 seconds behind his personal record.

In the pole vault, three Cougars placed in the top-five. Emily Coombs and Kolby Weiss finished third and fourth in the event, respectively. Both the Coug women finished with a cleared mark of 3.87 meters. Jacob Englar took third in the men’s pole vault with a mark of 5.13 meters.

Payne, a thrower, had a new personal record in the women’s weight throw with a mark of 18.03 meters. This is the seventh-best weight throw in program history, placing sixth at the meet. 

In the preliminary race of the women’s 60-meter hurdles, Buschendorf ran the seventh-fastest time in program history with a personal best of 8.39 seconds. She finished seventh overall with a time of 8.49 seconds in the final race. 

Teevens finished sixth overall in the women’s pentathlon with a total of 3,633 points. She finished second overall with an 800-meter race time of 2:15.90. Her point tally is the seventh-most points scored in program history.

In the women’s high jump, junior Suzy Pace placed in a four-way tie for fourth place. Pace recorded 1.70 meters, tying her season record. Senior Anna Rodgers also cleared 5.71 meters and placed fifth in the event. 

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