From Washington University Athletics
Sophomore Deko Ricketts and junior Josh Clark both broke school records to highlight several season-best performances for the Washington University in St. Louis men's and women's track & field teams at the Dr. Keeler Invitational hosted by North Central College Thursday and Friday.
In a meet that was delayed nearly three hours Friday afternoon due to inclement weather, WashU had 16 top-eight finishes. The Bears also posted 17 season-bests and 10 career-best performances at the two-day meet that finished early Saturday morning.
Ricketts broke a 23-year-old school record to finish second in the men's 800 Friday night. He crossed the finish line in 1:50.31, which is the fifth-fastest time in NCAA Division III this season. Ricketts' time was more than 0.7 of a second faster than his previous career-best, and bettered the previous school record of 1:51.00 set in 1992 by Robert Lindsey. Clark shaved nearly three seconds off his own WashU record to place fourth in the men's 1,500 with a time of 3:46.90, which is the fourth-fastest time in NCAA Division III this season.
In his second race of the season, senior Drew Padgett placed first in the 5,000 Thursday evening. He clocked a time of 14:17.59 to win the event by more than 14 seconds in the field of 103 runners. Padgett's time was less than seven seconds off his own school record in the event, and ranks fifth in NCAA Division III this season.
Junior Emily Warner and sophomore Ashley Knudson both ran career-best times in the women's 800. Warner finished as the runner-up with the second-fastest time in school history (2:09.79), which is also the sixth-fastest time in NCAA Division III this season. Knudson also had a career-best (2:13.84) to place sixth in the event.
Senior Troy Makous cleared a season-best height of 4.81 meters to place third in the men's pole vault. His mark ranks 15th on the NCAA Division III leaderboard this season. The men's 1,600 relay team of juniors James Fitzhugh and Alex Bastian, senior Brendan Stone and Ricketts ran a season-best time of 3:16.55 to place fourth. Stone added an eighth-place finish in the 400 hurdles with a season-best 53.99. Senior James Hallwood finished fourth in the men's 200 (22.22), and sophomore Jack MacCarthy ran a career-best 15.15 to finish seventh in the 110 hurdles.
Senior Lucy Cheadle finished fifth in the 1,500 with a career-best time of 4:34.70, while sophomore Rebecca Ridderhoff had a career-best time of 1:04.15 to place seventh in the 400 hurdles. Freshman Alison Lindsay ran a season-best time of 11:04.17 to place eighth in the women's 3,000 steeplechase. Sophomore Daisy Ogede had a pair of runner-up finishes at the meet, placing second in both the 100 (12.26) and 200 (24.87). Senior Melissa Gilkey added a runner-up finish in the women's javelin with a throw of 39.46m.