7 minute read
SPRING ROUND UP
Sub-4s More Indoors
Huskies lead the way indoors in all-out assault on the record books
MARK MOSCHETTI • FOR GO HUSKIES MAGAZINE
When eight guys break four minutes in the mile on the same night — as eight University of Washington runners did in 2023 — how can that possibly be topped in 2024?
Easy: Create a whole separate event focused exclusively on the mile, call it Mile City, invite anyone and everyone who wants to race … then watch nearly twice as many guys go out and run a sub-4.
Led by UW star Luke Houser, that’s precisely what happened on Jan. 27 when his record-breaking performance made him one of 15 runners — and one of five Huskies — to break that barrier on the Dempsey Indoor oval.
Houser, the defending NCAA indoor mile champion, posted a time of 3:51.73 exactly one year to the day after Joe Waskom led that group of eight Washington sub-4s with a then-record 3:51.90 on the first night of the UW Invitational.
Inspired in large part by what happened in that race, which garnered attention from around the world, Washington created the Mile City event to take place at the conclusion of this year’s UW Invite.
For some six hours on that Saturday afternoon, competitors from youngsters to top collegians and pros raced five-plus laps around the purple 307-meter track. The college / pro / club portion had 521 finishers — 322 on the men’s side, 199 on the women’s.
While Houser set the pace with his 3:51.79 — the fourth-fastest time in NCAA history — four other Huskies broke the barrier as well: 3:53.64 for Waskom (third place), 3:53.74 for Nathan Green (fourth), 3:54.61 for Ronan McMahon-Staggs (fifth, and his first-ever sub-4), and 3:58.18 for Leo Daschbach (10th).
Washington now has 20 sub-4-mile performances in program history, with 14 of those coming during the current Andy Powell coaching era.
Washington now has 20 sub-4-mile performances in program history, with 14 of those coming during the current Andy Powell coaching era.
Two years after setting the UW record in the women’s 5,000 meters, Haley Herberg rewrote it by clocking 15:38.37 in the Husky Classic.
Records Broken Everywhere
• Chloe Foerster, a sophomore, established a new women’s mile standard at the Husky Classic on Feb. 10 at 4:28.14 seconds, beating the previous mark of 4:28.48 by Katie Flood that had stood since 2012.
• Two years after setting the UW record in the women’s 5,000 meters, Haley Herberg rewrote it by clocking 15:38.37 in the Classic.
• Also at the Classic, sophomore Kaia Tupu-South added on to her own women’s shot put record with a throw of 56 feet, 4 inches. That was two inches farther than what she threw two weeks earlier at the Frank Savigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Neb.
• Jayden White already owned the men’s weight throw UW record. Now, he has gone four inches beyond that with a mark of 74-5½ at the Classic.
• Although the 1,000 meters isn’t an official NCAA event (other than at the end of the men’s heptathlon), it is on the Washington record board. Nathan Green’s name is now next to it after his 2:18.56 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Feb. 4 in Boston. That time ranks No. 5 in NCAA history.
• Beatrice Asomaning launched the first 70-foot women’s weight throw in Husky history, going 70 feet, 1 inch on her sixth and final attempt at the UW Invitational on Jan. 26. That erased the old record of 69-8¼ by Angel Nkwonta in 2020.
• Also at the Invite, senior Carley Thomas went wire-to-wire in the women’s 800 in 2:00.95, breaking not only her own school record (2:02.15 last season), but the Dempsey Indoor record, as well.
Moving Outdoors
While the indoor season wraps up on March 8-9 at the NCAA Championships in Boston, the outdoor schedule begins at the top-caliber Stanford Invitational on March 29-30.
The Washington men are coming off the program’s first Pac-12 team title last year, with seven event champions. Of those, only Nathan Green in the 1,500 meters is returning. He and Joe Waskom went 1-2 in last year’s NCAA 1,500 meters.
The women finished third at Pac-12s and return pole vault co-champions Nastassja Campbell and Sara Borton, both of whom cleared 14 feet, 3¼ inches. That event figures to be even deeper with freshman sisters Hana and Amanda Moll coming aboard. Through mid-February, Hana was atop the NCAA indoor list at 15-2 ¾, the only 15-footer in the country.
Now Serving Experience
UW women return a loaded lineup aiming for another NCAA tourney run
One year after reaching the Pac-12 women’s semifinals and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Huskies are back for more.
And so are most of the players who helped them get that far.
Finishing last season ranked No. 21 nationally, the Huskies are right back in that No. 21 spot as they won their first six dual matches during the winter portion of the schedule.
The graduation of Hikaru Sato, 2023 Regional Senior Player of the Year and an All-Pac-12 firstteamer, left an opening atop the Washington ladder — and Erika Matsuda, a sophomore from Japan, has jumped all the way up to take that spot.
Matsuda played primarily No. 6 last year, going 13-3 to make the All-Pac-12 second team. She also was half of UW’s most successful doubles combination, combining with Sarah-Maude Fortin for an overall record of 13-3.
Fortin, a senior from Montreal, is back for her senior season. She went 17-15 in singles (11-11 at No. 2) and was 22-9 with various partners in doubles.
Astrid Olsen and Melissa Sakar, both grad students, also are returning to the court. Olsen was a consistent contributor at No. 3 singles with a 17-5 record (25-8 overall) and linked up with Jennifer Kerr (now a UW assistant coach) for 14 matches in No. 2 doubles. Olsen joined Matsuda on the Pac12 second team.
Sakar played mostly in the No. 5 singles position, going 10-7 as part of her overall 19-12 ledger and was 11-2 in doubles with two different partners.
All six of Washington’s primary men’s players who saw the largest portion of the action in their respective positions in 2023 are back.
French native Cesar Bouchelaghem, now a junior, played No. 3 last year, building a 17-1 record (26-6 overall). He has taken over the No. 1 spot, switching places with Han-Chih Lin. Now a senior, Lin went 7-12 in duals, 15-17 overall and was named to the Pac-12 second team.
Dzianis Zharyn, a junior from Belarus, rounded out Washington’s All Pac-12 selections, also making the second team. Along with his 12-8 record (mostly at No. 2; he’s still in that position early in 2024), he and Bouchelaghem formed the Huskies’ regular No. 1 doubles tandem, forging a 12-7 record.
Others returning are junior Nedim Suko (14-18, typically at No. 4), Jim Hendrikx (9-12, mostly at No. 5), and Brett Pearson (15-10, usually at No. 6).
Coming out of the ITA National Team Indoor tournament on the second weekend of February, the Husky women were looking at another string of non-conference matches before beginning Pac-12 play on March 8-9 in Los Angeles against Southern California and UCLA.
UW’s men also had a handful of non-conference tests remaining before starting their last-ever Pac-12 schedule at home on March 7 against Oregon.
