From Washington University Athletics
For the eighth time in school history, the Washington University men's and women's track & field teams swept the team titles at the 2016 University Athletic Association (UAA) Outdoor Championships hosted by Washington University at Bushyhead Track.
The WashU women won eight events on Sunday to run away with the team title. The Bears tallied 221 points, well ahead of Emory University (173) and the University of Chicago (161.50). The WashU men won three events and scored 161.50 points to claim the conference title ahead of Carnegie Mellon University (137) and New York University (126).
It was the 18th UAA Outdoor title for the WashU men and 14th conference title for the WashU women. The Bears last swept the UAA Outdoor team titles in 2014.
"It was incredible. We just competed really well. We competed for each other, and people went out and took care of business. When someone was down, someone else stepped up," said head coach Jeff Stiles. "The number of compliments we received from other coaches about our athletes is always humbling."
Junior Kelli Hancock broke a seven-year school record in the women's 400 hurdles to win in 1:00.75, with junior Rebecca Ridderhoff claiming second place with a time of 1:03.11.
Hancock then teamed with senior Emily Warner, junior Daisy Ogede, and freshman Elise Grever in the 400 relay to shatter another school record with a winning time of 46.98, nearly a full second ahead of runner-up Emory. Hancock and Warner also teamed with sophomore Annalise Wagner and Ridderhoff to win the 1,600 relay with a UAA-record time of 3:47.03, which is the third-fastest time in school history.
Ogede added an individual title in the 100 hurdles (14.79), but she suffered an injury crossing the finish line. The injury prevented her from running in the 100 and 200—two races where she is ranked first in NCAA Division III. With Ogede sidelined, Grever clocked a time of 25.49 to win the 200, and she added a second-place finish in the 100 with a time of 12.32.
The WashU men had three individual titles on Sunday. Junior Deko Ricketts raced to first in the men's 800 with a UAA-record time of 1:51.11, which was also the third-fastest time in school history. Senior Josh Clark won the men's 1,500 with a time of 3:53.94. Sophomore Elvir Sarajlic(3:56.51) and junior Mike Sullivan (3:58.09) came in fourth and sixth place, respectively.
Senior Joey Pasque was the lone event winner in the field events for the WashU men. He cleared 1.99m to win the high jump and post his first UAA outdoor championship. Senior Alex Arteaga came in sixth place after clearing 1.89m. Sophomore Ezugo Onejeme cleared a career-best 13.58m to finish second in the triple jump, with Arteaga adding a fourth-place finish with a career-best mark of 13.36m.
Senior Maisie Mahoney had a banner day for the WashU women, winning two field event titles. She won the triple jump with a career-best mark of 11.36m. Freshman Heidi Nassos followed in fourth place with a career-best mark of 10.88. Mahoney also won the women's javelin throw (38.82m), with freshman Rachel Kershner finishing second (37.84m) and senior Jackie Nelligan finishing fifth (31.87m).
Besides those two event titles, Mahoney cleared a career-best 1.60m to place third in the high jump. Junior Betsy Wiener captured sixth place in shot put with a career-best toss of 10.86m.
Wagner set a new UAA record in the women's 800 with a winning time of 2:10.33. Junior Ashley Knudson posted a fifth-place finish with a time of 2:15.15. Warner clocked the second-fastest time in school history (55.94) to finish third in the women's 400.
The men's 1,600 relay team of senior James Fitzhugh, senior Alex Bastian, freshman Jeremy Barnes and Ricketts were runner-up finishers with a time of 3:17.17. Bastian (50.14) and Fitzhugh (50.55) also finished in fifth and sixth place, respectively, in the men's 400.
Sophomore Roderick Smith secured second place in the men's 100 with a time of 10.95, just .02 seconds behind the event winner from NYU. Sophomore Michael Billington posted a third-place finish in the men's 400 hurdles with a time of 55.24.