Cougars shine in first outdoor track meet

Athletes secure five event wins, claim 32 top five performances

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ABBY LINNENKOHL | DAILY EVERGREEN FILE

Then-redshirt freshman Molly Scharmann pole vaults in a dual meet against UW on March 28, 2018.

KATIE ARCHER, Evergreen reporter

WSU track and field opened its outdoor season at the USC Trojan Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles, California.

Five athletes claimed event victories and 32 Cougars had top five or better finishes during the two-day meet.

Senior Chrisshnay Brown led the way for the women’s side, tossing the shot put 14.85 meters to win the event.

In the women’s pole vault, redshirt junior Molly Scharmann secured first with a mark of 3.87 meters. Sophomore Emily Coombs followed in second with a height of 3.72 meters.

The men’s side claimed three event wins thanks to redshirt sophomore Alex Cielo, junior Justin Janke and senior Peyton Fredrickson.

Cielo won the javelin with a mark of 57.60 meters, Janke raced to victory in the 1500-meter with a time of 3:51.52 and Fredrickson topped the charts in the high jump at 2.10 meters.

Senior Keelan Halligan and sophomore Mitch Jacobson placed second and third, respectively, in the men’s high jump.

Redshirt junior Aoife Martin landed in third place in the women’s hammer throw with a toss of 55.29 meters. On the men’s side, redshirt senior Brock Eager finished in second place and redshirt senior Amani Brown grabbed third in the event.

In the women’s discus, senior Kaitlin Krouse placed third with a mark of 43.36 meters. Brown followed in fourth place with a throw of 43.02 meters.

Freshman Suzy Pace sailed into second place in the women’s high jump with a mark of 1.68 meters.

In the men’s long jump, senior Ray Littles placed third with a leap of 6.49 meters and senior Robby Flores secured fourth in the triple jump at 14.17 meters.

Senior Regyn Gaffney grabbed second in the women’s 100-meter dash at 11.83 seconds and freshman Charisma Taylor finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.33 seconds.

Sophomore Jake Ulrich took second in the men’s 400-meter with a time of 47.11 seconds.

Redshirt senior Natalie Ackerley earned second in the women’s 800-meter and freshman Noah Wallace placed fourth on the men’s side of the event.

Both the men’s and women’s 4×100-meter relay teams placed second. In the women’s 4×400-meter relay, WSU placed sixth and second on the men’s side.

The Cougars return to the track Thursday and Friday to compete in the Sam Adams Invitational in Spokane, Washington.