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Cougars win 8 events at Hayward Premiere track meet

by CONTRIBUTED REPORT/WSU ATHLETICS
| April 8, 2022 1:00 AM

EUGENE, Ore.— The Washington State men's and women's track and field team recorded eight event wins and posted 16 top-three finishes as multiple Cougs turned in record-setting performances at the Hayward Premiere in Eugene, Oregon this past Friday and Saturday.

Both freshman Micaela De Mello and junior Aislinn Overby set Hayward Premiere meet records and won their respective events. De Mello showed off her speed by winning the women's 100m hurdle event with her meet record time of 13.30. Overby leaped to first place with her season-best and meet record mark of 1.78m in the women's high jump.

Freshman Nana Gyedu broke her own WSU women's freshman shot put record with a mark of 15.16m, .14 meters better than her pervious mark of 15.02m, which she threw earlier this season at the Baldy Castillo Invitational. Her performance at Hayward Field is the fifth-best women's shot put throw in Cougar history. Gyedu placed fourth overall in the event.

"It was great to see so many Cougs taking victory laps around Hayward field," WSU Track and Field Head Coach Wayne Phipps said. "We came away with two awesome meet records by Aislinn Overby and Micaela De Mello; and a freshman school record by Nana Gyedu."

Graduate student Colton Johnsen made his 2022 outdoor debut and won the men's 5000m race. Johnsen showed great closing ability by leading the pack over the last 800m to finish with a time of 13:49.53.

Staying on the track, junior Mackenzie Fletcher and sophomore Neema Kimtai both won their events. Fletcher took first place in the women's 400m hurdles with a time of 1:00.67. Kimtai won the women's 800m crossing the finish line at the 2:07.24 mark, which is the 10th-fastest women's 800m in WSU history.

The WSU women's 4x400m relay team consisting of juniors Jasneet Najjar, Elise Unruh-Thomas, and Elena Willems, and freshman Renee Yang also got in the action by winning their race with a time of 3:45.38.

Senior Jacob Englar was back to his winning ways by claiming the top spot in the men's pole vault by clearing a height of 5.15m. Freshman Valentina Barrios Bornacelli won the women's javelin event with a throw of 50.28m and recorded her first win as a Cougar.

"I thought our team competed very well in all event areas: and it was very beneficial to compete in the stadium at which both Pac-12's and NCAA's will be held," Phipps said.

Additionally, three other Cougs recorded WSU all-time top-10 marks. Junior Skyler Walton (11.72) ran the sixth-fastest WSU women's 100m dash. Sophomore Caroline Jerotich (10:25.38) and senior Pia Richards (10:31.73) recorded the seventh and 10th fastest 3000m steeplechase times in WSU history.