In track, winners and losers are often separated by just hundredths of a second. In dual meets, every single point can make a huge difference and because of senior Ruby Roberts’ third place finish in the 3,000-meter distance run, the Cougar women squeaked out a victory against rival Washington.

Senior Mary Barnett kicked off the day for the WSU women by becoming a triple winner, including a lifetime-best hammer throw 142 feet and 11 inches. Barnett then tossed a season best in the shot put of 45 feet and 7 inches and capped off her day with a personal record heave in the discus of 139 feet and 11 inches.

“Mary Barnett came in and got us a win in the (shot put) and got us a win in the discus, which was huge for the women’s side,” said Head Coach Rick Sloan. 

The Cougar women also finished one-two in the 800-meter race led by junior Abby Regan in a personal record time of 2 minutes and 5.82 seconds, which was the sixth-fastest time in school history. Right behind Regan was redshirt senior Courtney Zalud, who finished with a personal record of 2 minutes and 6.30 seconds, the eighth-fastest time in WSU history. 

The difference maker for the Cougars turned out to be Roberts. Sloan said Roberts wasn’t even expected to run the 3,000-meter race, but he knew that race would ultimately decide the meet.  

“I didn’t want to have to go to the relay with it, so (Roberts) jumped in the 3,000 meters and ran a great race and got us the third place that we needed,” Sloan said. “We needed one point to put it over the top, as you can see they beat us in the relay. We had a couple people hurt so we didn’t have our most competitive team on the field, so it was good that Ruby got in there and got us over the hump and got us 82 points.” 

The third place Roberts earned was the deciding factor for the women as they beat the Huskies 82-81. 

In the sprints, sophomore Dominique Keel had a strong outing, running the 100 meter in 11.84 seconds and the 200-meter dash in a time of 24.14 seconds. Both times were good enough for the first place finishes. 

The Cougar women excelled in the field events as well. Redshirt senior Shaquana Logan won the 100-meter hurdles, ran on the winning 400-relay team, and finished second place in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet and 11 and 1/4 inches. Senior Shantae Young won the long jump with a new personal record of 18 feet and 11 and 3/4 inches, while also earning a top-three finish in the triple jump with another with personal record 40 feet and 2 and 3/4 inches.   

Sophomore Lateah Holmes led the way for WSU in the high jump with personal record jump of 5 feet and 7 and 1/4 inches, followed by sophomore Audrey Ketcham, and redshirt junior Charlotte Muschamp. The women’s javelin boasted another one-two finish with junior Celena Ward rifling a toss of 153 feet and 1 inch for first place, while sophomore Kelsie Taylor heaved the javelin 145 feet and 8 inches. 

The Cougar men battled all day against the No. 21 ranked Washington men’s team. Senior Rashaun Johnson had a standout day, running the 400-meter hurdles in 52.70 seconds for the win, while freshman Daniel Zmuda ran the 110-meter hurdles in a personal record time of 14.28 seconds for the win. Zmuda also earned second in the 400-meter hurdles. 

Among the other sprinters, sophomore Andre McBride captured the 100-meter race in a time of 10.70 seconds, and sophomore Terrance Chambers won the 200-meter dash with a personal record of 21.37 seconds. Redshirt junior Jacob Sealby, and freshman C.J. Allen finished one-two in the 400-meter, but Allen achieved the personal record time of 48.14 seconds. 

“At one point, late in the meet, we were ahead by five points on the men’s side, and I thought we could hold off and win, and I thought we might be struggling on the women’s side,” Sloan said. “There was a big flip-flop right at the end and it was tough. Our guys really battled hard and competed well. Washington is a very good team. I told the team the meet would be decided by centimeters and hundredths of seconds.”

The men’s 400-meter relay jumped out to a huge start in route to a victory as Johnson, McBride, Kyle Farmer, and Chambers ran season best time of 40.28 seconds. 

However, the Cougar men came up short in the team total, 84-79, splitting the dual meet with Washington. 

“I’m pleased with the competitive effort that we made,” Sloan said. “It was a tough competition. The Huskies were probably favorites coming into the meet on paper on the men’s side. I think we might have been a marginal favorite or dead even with their women. To win a meet like this you have to be at your very best and for the most part we were, but they were at their very best also, and that’s what made it so close.”

The next action for WSU begins Saturday when it hosts the Pac-12 championships.