WSU track and field had its first outdoor meet of the season this weekend when they traveled to Southern California to compete in the USC Trojan Invitational.

The Cougars started on the right foot with redshirt junior Brock Eager, who took first in the men’s hammer throw Friday. The reigning Pac-12 champion and 2017 All-American second team honors recipient threw the hammer 66.50 meters.

Redshirt junior Amani Brown and redshirt senior Wyatt Meyring were close behind Eager with third and sixth place finishes respectively. Brown recorded a personal record distance of 61.67 meters while Meyring’s toss went 53.60 meters.

Redshirt sophomore Aoife Martin came in fourth place in the women’s hammer throw with a distance of 53.57 meters. WSU’s only discus thrower, redshirt senior Tyler Jackson, came in 11th with a final throw of 44.86 meters.

The Cougars’ success continued Saturday when WSU dominated the women’s triple jump. Redshirt senior Greer Alsop took first place with a distance of 12.32 meters and freshman Oyinlola Akinlosotu placed second with a distance of 11.81 meters.

“Every jump I felt like I was getting a little closer to being technically sound,” Alsop said in a WSU news release. “I gave [assistant] coach Ryan [Grinnell] a couple heart attacks from almost falling in the first jump, then fouling four jumps in a row and finally pulling it together on the last jump.”

On the men’s side, junior Robby Flores finished fourth with a final distance of 14.36 meters.

Freshman Sander Moldau placed fifth in the men’s pole vault with a final height of 4.90 meters and finished eighth in the men’s javelin with a final throw of 46.69 meters.

In the women’s 4×400 meter relay, a team consisting of redshirt senior Alissa Brooks-Johnson, freshman Jelena Grujic, junior Stephanie Cho and senior Marlow Schulz finished in third with a time of 3:43.96.

Schulz finished second in the women’s 800 meter dash with a PR time of 2:09.05, and redshirt sophomore Molly Scharmann placed third in the women’s pole vault with a final height of 3.70 meters.

In the men’s 4×100 relay, the Cougars took first place with senior Zach Smith, junior Ja’Maun Charles, junior Ray Littles and junior Ethan Gardner finishing with a time of 40.82 seconds.

Junior Regyn Gaffney finished fourth in the women’s 100 meter dash with a time of 12.09 seconds. Charles finished third for the men with a time of 10.53 seconds.

Wayne Phipps, director of cross country/track and field, said the Cougars performed at a high level across a number of events.

“I thought it was a great opener with a number of marks that should ensure an NCAA first round qualification,” Phipps said in the release. “Brock [Eager] and Amani [Brown] got everything started on the right note with a great opening throw.”

After a successful start to the outdoor season, WSU will get ready to compete in the Whitworth Sam Adams Classic this Thursday and Friday in Spokane.