From Washington University Athletics
The Washington University in St. Louis men's and women's track & field teams had four athletes win individual titles and posted six other all-conference finishes on the first day of the University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Brandeis University Friday.
The Washington University men and women each scored 46 points and sit in first place in the team standings after day one. The WUSTL women are seven points ahead of the University of Chicago (39), while New York University (24) is in third after five events. In the men's standings, Washington U. has a five-point lead over Carnegie Mellon University (41), while Case Western Reserve University (34) is in third.
Senior Jasmine Williams was one of two individual champions for the Washington U. women during Friday's action. She recorded a career-best leap of 5.59 meters to win the long jump. The mark ranks third on the Washington University all-time leaderboard and ninth in NCAA Division III this season. It was the first UAA Indoor title in Williams' career.
Senior Anna Etherington led three top-five finishers for the WUSTL women in the pole vault. Etherington won her fourth straight UAA Indoor title in the event with a clearance of 3.85m. Junior Claire Simons also earned all-UAA honors, placing second with a clearance of 3.67m, while senior Moira Killoran finished fifth with a mark of 3.27m.
Junior Ryan Senci won his first career UAA title, placing first in the men's 5,000 with a career-best time of 14:48.29. Senior Kevin Sparksfinished as the runner-up with a time of 14:53.80.
Sophomore Alex Arteaga was the fourth event champion for Washington U. Friday. Arteaga posted a career-best mark of 6.71m to win the long jump, claiming the first UAA Indoor title of his career. Junior Nick Alaniva also earned all-UAA honors in the event, finishing third with a mark of 6.40m. Arteaga added a fifth-place finish in the men's high jump with a clearance of 1.84m, just one centimeter off his career-best.
Freshman Sarah Curci also earned all-UAA honors for the Washington U. women Friday, finishing as the runner-up in the 5,000 with a time of 18:03.97. Senior Kathleen Valadez placed fifth with a time of 18:15.14. The women's distance medley relay team of senior Elizabeth Worley, senior Nkele Davis, sophomore Nicole Migotsky and junior Lucy Cheadle also raced to all-UAA honors, placing third in a time of 12:18.01.
The men's distance medley relay was the final all-UAA performance of the day for Washington U. The team of sophomores Josh Clark andConnor Furlong and freshmen Mike Sullivan and Ethan Brodeur finished as the runner-up in the event with a time of 10:11.21. Junior Ian Montague accounted for the final team points for the WUSTL men Friday, placing fifth in the weight throw with a career-best toss of 14.32m.
Preliminaries for 10 running events (five men's and five women's) were also contested during Friday's action. Washington U. had runners advance to the finals in all 10 of those events. Freshmen Deko Ricketts highlighted the Bears' prelim races by clocking the second-fastest time in school history in the 800 (1:55.77).
Senior Alan Komorowski (55, 200), juniors Alaniva (55), James Hallwood (200) and Brendan Stone (400), sophomores Arteaga (55 hurdles),Alex Bastian (800) and James Fitzhugh (400), and freshman Jack MacCarthy (55 hurdles) joined Ricketts in advancing to Saturday's finals. On the women's side, senior Katie Sandson (55, 200), sophomore Emily Warner (200, 400), and freshmen Ashley Knudson (800), Rebecca Ridderhoff (55 hurdles) and Daisy Ogede (55 hurdles) each advanced to the finals of their respective events.