WASHINGTON STATE TRACK & FIELD RELEASE @ UW Final Qualifier (NCAA Last Chance) Saturday, March 3 Dempsey Indoor Facility, Seattle

Linda Chalich • Asst. Dir. Athl. Comm. (Track & Field Contact) • W-509-335-0268 • C-509-432-3263 • [email protected]

WSU TRACK & FIELD SENDS LAST CHANCE COMPETITORS TO SEATTLE WSU TRACK & FIELD Five members of the Washington State men’s teams travel to 2012 SCHEDULE Seattle for the UW Final Qualifier/NCAA Last Chance Meet Sat., March 3, at JANUARY the Dempsey Indoor Facility in Seattle...Joe Abbott (800m), Shawn Swartz (high jump), Jovan Vukicevic (high jump), Ryan Barrett (200m, 400m) and 13-14 WSU Open, Pullman Nick Smith (800m)...Abbott, Swartz and Vukicevic are aiming for marks to 21-22 @ Cherry & Silver Invite, qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships while Barrett and Smith are Albuquerque, NM accumulating competitive experience...Saturday’s events are scheduled to 27-28 Cougar Multis, Pullman begin at 11 a.m. and conclude about 3 p.m...Live results will be available Cougar Indoor, Pullman at www.gohuskies.com...results will be posted at www.wsucougars.com, at the completion of the meet.

FEBRUARY ABOUT THE COUGAR COACHES 3 @ Vandal Indoor, Moscow Head coach Rick Sloan is in his 39th season with the Cougar track program; 4 @ Idaho Indoor Open, 18th year as a head coach, 17th year as mentor to the combined men’s Moscow and women’s program...Sloan (decathlon/heptathlon) is joined by associ- 10-11 @ Husky Classic, Seattle ate coach Debra Farwell (throws), head coach for cross country Pete Julian @ Tyson Invite, Fayetteville (distance), and assistant coaches Mark Macdonald (hurdles/relays), Ellannee Richardson (sprints/relays) and Matt McGee (jumps)…volunteer coaches in- 18 @ Vandal Collegiate, clude Jeshua Anderson, Tim Riley and Wes McCann. Moscow 24-25 @ Mountain Pacific Sports SCOTT-ELLIS WINS AT MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS Fed. Champs, Seattle Stephan Scott-Ellis, a junior from Tacoma, won the men’s long jump and fin- ished second in the at the 2012 Mountain Pacific Sports Federa- MARCH tion Championships...Scott-Ellis long jumped a PR distance of 7.75m/25-5 1/4 Friday night to win...mark is 10th-best in WSU history...all three of Scott-Ellis’ 3 @ NCAA Last Chance, attempts were PRs with his winning mark a nine-inch improvement from his Seattle previous best...Saturday triple jumped 15.89m/52-1 3/4 for second place... 9-10 @ NCAA Indoor T&F ASU’s Chris Benard took second to Scott-Ellis in the long jump but won the Championships, Boise triple jump with an NCAA Automatice Qualifying mark of 16.43m/53-11 to win.

NCAA DESCENDING ORDER LISTS The NCAA has automatic qualifying standards for Indoor competition that can be found on the 2012 Indoor Bests Lists posted on the WSU website (www.wsucougars.com)...national descending order lists can be viewed at the United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Track & Field Results Reporting System website (www.tfrrs.org).

COUGARS AMONG THE NATION’S TOP 50 WSU men in the TFRRS national top 50 list this week include: Joe Abbott, 800m (41st), Jono Lafler, 5000m (29th); Stephan Scott-Ellis, long jump (6th) and triple jump (9th); Michael Bolligar, heptathlon (36th); and 4x400m Relay of Brandon Dawson, Joe Abbott, J Hopkins, Jacob Sealby (41st). WASHINGTON STATE TRACK & FIELD RELEASE Saturday, March 3 @ UW Final Qualifier/NCAA Last Chance Meet, Seattle Page 2

USTFCCCA NATIONAL TEAM RANKINGS The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Asso- ciation (USTFCCCA) national rank- ings are a prediction of how teams Stephan Scott-Ellis (above) won the long jump and was the runner-up in the triple jump and individuals will place at the at the 2012 MPSF Championships. 2012 NCAA Div. I Indoor Champion- ships, March 9-10, in Boise, Idaho.

USTFCCCA INDOOR T&F RANKINGS BOLLIGAR TALLIES SECOND-BEST WSU MEN’S TOP 25 TEAMS HEPTATHLON TOTAL AT MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS February 28, 2012 Michael Bolligar, a junior from Peoria, Ariz., racked up 5,406 points in the heptathlon at the MPSF Championships for third Rank School Total Last Ranking 1. Florida 188.49 2 place...mark was a personal-best for Bolligar, a junior trans- 2. Arkansas 135.65 1 fer...during the competition he scored PRs in the 60m hurdles, 3. Texas A&M 123.78 3 long jump, shot put and 1000m run...it is the second-best in 4. LSU 104.93 4 WSU history for the men’s indoor heptathlon...Darion Powell 5. Arizona 96.68 6 holds the school record with 5,631 points from 2005. 6. Texas 92.10 5 7. Arizona State 86.48 7 8. BYU 76.03 16 9. Minnesota 75.76 8 FLEISCHER BREAKS 3K FRESHMAN SCHOOL RECORD 10. Stanford 73.66 12 11. Virginia Tech 68.71 9 Katie Fleischer, a freshman from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, 12. Mississippi St. 66.90 10 ran a 3000m time of 9:46.46 at the MPSF Championships, 13. Indiana 62.14 11 erasing Sarah Bobbe’s freshman school record time of 14. Georgia 59.32 24 9:48.91 run in 2011. 15. Kansas State 54.36 14 16. Florida State 51.62 20 17. Ohio State 44.95 13 18. Nebraska 42.95 15 HEAD COACH RICK SLOAN COMMENTS 19. Auburn 38.76 17 ABOUT MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS 20. Oregon 36.73 19 “The MPSF Championships is the culmination 21. Mississippi 36.64 22 22. NC State 35.00 37 of our indoor season except for the people who 23. Princeton 34.31 25 might be going on to the NCAA meet, and it 24. Oklahoma 33.50 21 signals the beginning of the outdoor season. 25. N. Arizona 31.68 23 With the outdoor season comes the intermedi- ate hurdles and the javelin, two strongholds for 47. Washington State 18.89 68 the Cougars. I’m pleased, especially with the MEN’S INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS men, with the performances we had here and I’m very excited to get to the Event Name Prediction outdoor season and on to the Pac-12 and national championships.” 800m Joe Abbott 41st 5000m Jono Lafler 29th 4x400m Relay 26th Dawson, Abbott, Hopkins, Sealby LJ Stephan Scott-Ellis 6th TJ Stephan Scott-Ellis 9th

Final Indoor rankings Mar. 6, 2012 WASHINGTON STATE TRACK & FIELD RELEASE Saturday, March 3 @ UW Final Qualifier/NCAA Last Chance Meet, Seattle Page 3

WATCH 2012 TRACK & FIELD VIDEO INTERVIEWS USTFCCCA INDOOR T&F RANKINGS Throughout the 2012 season watch Cougar Head Coach Rick Sloan, the WSU WOMEN’S TOP 25 TEAMS February 28, 2012 coaching staff and student-athletes’ outlook on Track & Field competitions by going to www.wsucougars.com and clicking on Videos...new content Rank School Total Last Ranking will be posted weekly. 1. Oregon 192.15 1 2. Arkansas 138.55 4 3. Clemson 136.13 3 4. LSU 127.57 2 5. Texas A&M 110.21 5 6. Kansas 87.43 7 7. Florida 83.28 6 8. California 76.82 19 9. BYU 63.94 14 10. Washington 63.82 23 NCAA TRACK & FIELD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS TICKETS SELLING FAST 11. Stanford 57.20 18 The 2012 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held 12. Southern Illinois 54.50 9 Friday and Saturday, March 9 and 10 at the Jacksons Indoor Track at the Ida- 13. Arizona 53.98 16 ho Center in Nampa, Idaho...all-session tickets for the event, good for both 14. Central Florida 53.29 15 days and all events, are on sale now at the Idaho Center Box Office and are 15. Iowa State 52.67 13 16. Tennessee 51.63 8 available ICtickets.com or NCAA.com/tickets, by calling 208-442-3232... Ticket 17. Ohio State 51.16 10 Prices (all-session) are Adult Reserved - $50, Adult General Admission - $45, 18. Texas 50.61 11 Senior/Student Reserved - $37, Senior/Student General Admission - $30...tick- 19. TCU 44.47 41 eting fees apply...more information on the meet can be found at ncaa.com/ 20. Florida State 43.24 21 championships. 21. Georgetown 43.47 20 22. Georgia 40.40 30 23. Texas Tech 40.11 12 USTFCCCA ALL-ACADEMIC HONORS 24. Wisconsin 39.86 17 FOR COUGAR CROSS COUNTRY 25. Auburn 39.01 50 The Washington State men’s and women’s cross country teams earned NR. Washington State NR United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTF- CCCA) 2011 Division I All-Academic Cross Country Team national honors... WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS Cougar men’s team, with a cumulative 3.13 GPA after Fall semester, was one Event Name Prediction of 147 men’s team tabbed...WSU women’s team, carrying a 3.41 cumulative Currently none GPA after Fall 2011, was one of 205 institutions honored for academics...An- Final Indoor rankings Mar. 6, 2012 drew Kimpel, a sophomore from Spokane, was the lone Cougar to receive ______national academic recognition and was one of 58 male student-athletes from 36 institutions to earn the USTFCCCA honor...Kimpel is majoring in man- WEST REGIONAL RANKINGS agement information systems at WSU and has a 3.29 GPA...last fall Kim- February 21, 2012 pel was the top finisher for WSU at the Pac-12 Championships (14th), at the Men Women NCAA West Regionals (14th), and at the NCAA Championships (59th)...his Rank School Rank School finish at the NCAA West Regionals earned him an All-Region honor. 1. Arizona State 1. Oregon 2. Stanford 2. Stanford 3. Arizona 3. Arizona 4. Oregon 4. Arizona State 5. Boise State 5. Washington 6. Washington 6. California 7. UCLA 7. USC 8. Washington State 8. San Diego State 9. California 9. UCLA 10. Idaho 10. UNLV 11. Long Beach State 11. Sacramento State 12. E. Washington 12. UC Santa Barbara 13. Sacramento State 13. Boise State 14. Cal St. Northridge 14. Idaho 15. UC Riverside 15. Hawai’i WASHINGTON STATE TRACK & FIELD RELEASE Saturday, March 3 @ UW Final Qualifier/NCAA Last Chance Meet, Seattle Page 4

LAGAT HEADED TO 2012 MARKS RECORDED IN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS THE WSU T&F RECORD BOOK , a WSU gradu- ate, won his third consecutive Women All-Time Marks USA indoor 3000m title Feb. 25 at the Albuquerque Convention Pole Vault Center in a time of 7:47.54... t-9th. 3.66m / 12-0i Lagat, 37, defied his age and Carly Fitzpatrick ran a blistering 25.42-second last lap to complete the fast- est winning time at the USA Men All-Time Marks Indoor T&F Championships in five years...he is a member of Long Jump Team USA headed to the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships scheduled 10th. 7.75m / 25-5 1/4i for March 11-13 in Istanbul, Turkey. Stephan Scott-Ellis BERNARD LAGAT BREAKS AMERICAN 5K RECORD AT MILLROSE GAMES Triple Jump WSU Athletic Hall of Fame member Bernard Lagat won the 5,000-meter race 10th. 15.98m / 52-5 1/4i with an American record time of 13-07.15 Feb. 11,at the 105th Millrose Games Stephan Scott-Ellis (NYC Armory)...Lagat, age 37, crushed the Galen Rupps’ 5k record time of 13:11.44...same day, Rupp broke Lagat’s 2-mile record by a mere second... Heptathlon also competing at the Millrose Games Saturday was former Cougar Jeshua 2nd. 5,406 points Anderson who ran in a special 500m race, taking second place in a time of Michael Bolligar 1:01.86....race video and a link to story in the New York Daily News about the Millrose Games can be found on the wsucougars.com website.

COUGAR ATHLETICS ON THE WEB ANDERSON SEATTLE Connect with Washington State Uni- STAR FINALIST versity Athletics on the web at WSU- Jeshua Anderson was Cougars.com, the official website a finalist for the Male of Cougar Athletics, and on Twitter Sports Star of the Year (twitter.com/WSUCougars_com), at the 77th Annual Facebook (facebook.com/WSUCou- Sports Star of the Year garAthletics) and YouTube (youtube. presented by the Seat- com/WSUCougarAthletics) during tle Sports Commission the 2012 season. January 25, 2012... there were five nomi- NCAA & ESPN AGREE TO B’CAST nees in each category: OUTDOOR T&F CHAMPIONSHIPS Professional Sports The NCAA Division I Track & Field Star, Male Sports Star, Female Sports Star and Sports Story of the Year... Championships are part of a $500 nominees were selected by a committee comprised of Seattle-area sports million agreement between the historians, media and major programs and franchises...fans voted once ev- NCAA and ESPN to broadcast mul- ery 24-hours for one nominee in each category online...Washington football tiple sports championships through player Chris Polk won the 2012 award...Anderson, the USA 400m hurdles the 2023-24 school year...ESPN has champion and three-time NCAA intermediate hurdles champion, is training international rights to men’s basket- as a professional runner in Pullman with his collegiate coach Mark Macdon- ball and continues U.S. coverage of ald...Anderson finished second in the special 500m race at the 105th Millrose women’s basketball tourney and the Games in a time of 1:01.86, Feb. 11 at New York City’s Armory. College World Series for baseball and softball...championships increase DREW POLLEY TAKES 21st AT OLYMPIC MARATHON TRIALS to 24, adding women’s gymnastics, Cougar grad Drew Polley placed 21st at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials men’s and women’s fencing, wom- held January 14, 2012, in Houston...Polley, from Port Orchard, Wash., has en’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s been running professionally for nearly three years for the Hansons-Brooks outdoor track, and women’s bowling. Distance Project based in Rochester, Michigan...Polley is well-represented with videos and blogs on the Flotrack.org website. WASHINGTON STATE TRACK & FIELD RELEASE Saturday, March 3 @ UW Final Qualifier/NCAA Last Chance Meet, Seattle Page 5

ABOUT THE 2012 COUGAR WOMEN Captain: Courtney Kirkwood Simmons, senior, Javelin, Othello, Washington 2011 Track & Field News Men’s World Rankings Returning NCAA Women Outdoor Participants: Bernard Lagat, 5000m - 2nd Courtney Kirkwood, Javelin: 2010 (11th); 2011 (9th) Jeshua Anderson, 400m Hurdles - 9th Holly Parent, High Jump: 2010 (DNP) Returning Women Pac-10 Scorers: 2011 Track & Field News Caroline Austin, Steeplechase: 2011 (8th) Women’s World Rankings Shawna Fermin, 400m: 2011 (5th) Ebba Jungmark, High Jump - 7th Jasmine Johnson-McKeown, Heptathlon: 2010 (8th); Discus: 2010 (7th); Shot Put: 2010 (8th) 2011 Track & Field News Ashley Kenney, Discus: 2009 (6th), 2010 (5th) Courtney Kirkwood Simmons, Javelin: 2009 (7th), 2010 (4th); 2011 (3rd) Men’s United States Rankings Shaquana Logan, 400m Hurdles: 2010 (7th); Heptathlon: 2011 (7th) Bernard Lagat, 1500m - 2nd Holly Parent, High Jump: 2010 (4th); 2011 (8th) Bernard Lagat, 5000m - 1st Christine Rice, High Jump: 2011 (6th) Jeshua Anderson, 400m Hurdles - 3rd Courtney Zalud, 800m: 2011 (8th) Ian Waltz, Discus - 2nd Top Women Newcomers for 2012: Anna Adamko, freshman, Throws, Vancouver, Wash. 2011 Track & Field News Holly DeHart, freshman, Sprints, Kent, Wash. Women’s United States Katie Fleischer, freshman, Middle Distance, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada Rankings Laran Johnson, freshman, Long Jump, Vallejo, Calif. Blessing Ufodiama, Triple Jump - 3rd Christine Kirkwood, freshman, Javelin, Othello, Wash. Candii McFarland, freshman, 400m Hurdles, Las Vegas, Nev. Marissa Tschida, Javelin - 4th Zoe Moller, freshman, Long Jump, Bellingham, Wash.

ABOUT THE 2012 COUGAR MEN Captain: Jake Baertlein, senior, Pole Vault, Portland, Oregon

Returning NCAA Men Outdoor Participants: Joe Abbott, 800m: 2011 (13th)

Returning Pac-10 Men Scorers: Joe Abbott, 800m: 2010 (3rd); 2011 (4th) Joe Bartlett, Shot Put: 2009 (8th); 2011 (4th) Brett Blanshan, 200m: 2010 (7th) John Brenteson, Pole Vault: 2011 (6th) Matt Cronrath, 1500m: 2011 (6th) J Hopkins, 400m Hurdles: 2009 (7th), 2010 (7th); 2011 (4th) Greg Hornsby, 200m: 2010 (8th) Stephan Scott-Ellis, Triple Jump: 2010 (2nd); 2011 (1st); Long Jump: 2010 (7th); 2011 (5th) Shawn Swartz, High Jump: 2011 (6th) Dana Wells, 400m Hurdles: 2011 (5th) Sean Wilson, Triple Jump: 2010 (8th)

Top Men Newcomers for 2012:: PJ Benedictus, freshman, Triple Jump, Renton, Wash. Michael Bolligar, junior, Decathlon, Peoria, Ariz. Gilbert Kiplagat, freshman, Eldoret, Kenya Robert Selby, freshman, Hurdles, Federal Way, Wash. Matt Wardell, freshman, Post Falls, Idaho Aric Walden, freshman, 110m Hurdles, Newport, Wash. Richard Wilhite, sophomore, Sprints, New Hope, Minn.