WASHINGTON STATE TRACK & FIELD RELEASE

@ USC Trojan Invitational Fri., March 23 and Sat., March 24, Los Angeles

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

COUGARS TRAVEL TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FOR USC INVITE WSU TRACK & FIELD The Washington State University teams travels to Los Angeles 2012 OUTDOOR SCHEDULE for the USC Trojan Invitational at Loker Stadium-Cromwell Field Friday, March March 23 and Saturday, March 24...non-scoring meet...collegiate teams competing at 17 @ SCC Dusty Lane Open, the two-day meet include Oregon and Washington from the Pac-12 Confer- Spokane ence, and BYU...Friday’s events include the hammer throw at West L.A. Col- 23-24 @ USC Trojan Invitational lege at 2 p.m. and then back at Loker Stadium the javelin throw at 6 p.m....a 31 @ UCLA & Tennessee Duals Distance Carnival of 3,000m, 5k and 10k begins at 6:30 p.m. in Loker Stadium but no Cougars will be competing in these events....Saturday’s events being April at 9:30 a.m...results will be posted at www.wsucougars.com post meet. 6-7 @ Stanford Invitatational 7 @ SCC WAR V, Spokane 12-13 @ UCSB Sam Adams Multis ABOUT THE COUGAR COACHES 21 COUGAR INVITATIONAL, Head coach Rick Sloan is in his 39th season PULLMAN with the Cougar track program; 18th year as a 28 WSU VS. WASHINGTON head coach, 17th year as mentor to the com- DUAL MEET, PULLMAN bined men’s and women’s program...Sloan (decathlon/heptathlon) is joined by associate May coach Debra Farwell (throws), head coach for 5-6 @ Pac-12 Combined Events cross country Pete Julian (distance), and as- Championships, Eugene sistant coaches Mark Macdonald (hurdles/re- 6 @ Vandal Jamboree, lays), Ellannee Richardson (sprints/relays) and Matt McGee (jumps)…volun- 12-13 @ Pac-12 Championships, teer coaches include Jeshua Anderson, Tim Riley and Wes McCann. Eugene 24-26 @ NCAA Championships Preliminary Rounds, Austin NCAA DESCENDING ORDER LISTS The NCAA has automatic qualifying standards for Indoor competition that June can be found on the 2012 Outdoor Bests Lists posted on the WSU website 6-9 @ NCAA Championships, (www.wsucougars.com)...national descending order lists can be viewed at Des Moines, Iowa the Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTF- CCCA) Track & Field Results Reporting System website (www.tfrrs.org). June 22-July 1 @ USA Track & Field Olympic Trials, Eugene

COUGARS IN THE TOP 50 NATIONALLY Washington State performances ranked in the TFRRS top 50 as of March 20, 2012.

WOMEN 3,000m Steeplechase - Emily Farrar (11:23.67) 28th Javelin - Anna Adamko (44.00m/144-4) 25th; Jaclyn Onosko (43.62m/143-2) 26th; Celena Ward (41.96m/137-8) 40th

MEN 800m - Todd Wakefield (1:53.93) 45th 400m Hurdles - J Hopkins (53.53) 34th Pole Vault - Jake Baertlein (4.70m/15-5) t-49th Discus - Joe Bartlett (50.26m/164-11) 39th; Oliver Henry (49.80m/163-5) 43rd Javelin - Sam Ferenchak (62.95m/206-6) 31st WASHINGTON STATE TRACK & FIELD RELEASE Fri., March 23 and Sat., March 24 @ USC Trojan Invitational, Los Angeles Page 2

WATCH 2012 TRACK & FIELD VIDEO INTERVIEWS Throughout the 2012 season watch Cougar Head Coach Rick Sloan, the WSU coaching staff and student-athletes’ outlook on Track & Field competitions by going to www.wsucougars.com and clicking on Videos...new content will be posted weekly.

WSU COMPETITORS ENTERED AT USC TROJAN INVITATIONAL, MAR. 23-24, L.A.:

USTFCCCA NATIONAL TEAM WSU Women RANKINGS The United States Track & Field and 100m - Morgan Clem, Holly DeHart, Chanel James, Cindy Robinson Cross Country Coaches Associa- 200m - Morgan Clem, Holly DeHart, Shawna Fermin tion (USTFCCCA) national rankings 400m, 800m - no entry are a prediction of how teams and 1500m, 3000, 5000m, 10,000m - no entry individuals will place at the 2012 100m Hurdles - Devin Brooks, Morgan Clem, Shaquana Logan, NCAA Div. I Outdoor Champion- ships, June 6-9, in Des Moines, Iowa.\ Candii McFarland 400m Hurdles - Erin Allen, Shaquana Logan, Candii McFarland PRESEASON OUTDOOR 3000m Steeplechase -no entry 4x100m Relay - Fermin, James, McFarland, Robinson RANKINGS BEGIN 4x400m Relay - Allen, DeHart, Fermin, James, Robinson MARCH 22, 2012 High Jump - Lauran Johnson Pole Vault - no entry Long Jump - Shaquana Logan, Zoe Moller USTFCCCA INDOOR T&F RANKINGS MEN’S TOP 25 TEAMS Triple Jump - Lauran Johnson, Zoe Moller Final 2012 Results Shot Put - Mary Barnett, Jasmine Johnson-McKeown Rank School Total Last Ranking Discus - Mary Barnett, Jasmine Johnson-McKeown 1. Florida 52 1 Hammer - no entry 2. Arkansas 47 2 Javelin - Anna Adamko, Christine Kirkwood, Jaclyn Onosko, 3. Arizona 41 5 4. Arizona State 31 10 Courtney Kirkwood Simmons 5. LSU 27 4 6. Indiana 25 14 WSU Men 7. Texas 22.5 7 100m - Brett Blanshan, Richard Wilhite 8. Florida State 22 12 200m - Brett Blanshan, Ryan Barrett, Richard Wilhite 8. Virginia Tech 22 11 8. Texas A&M 22 3 400m - Ryan Barrett, Brandon Dawson 11. Stanford 21 13 800m, 1500m - no entry 12. Notre Dame 15 NR 3000m, 5000m, 10,000m - no entry 13. Illinois 13 23 110m Hurdles - Michael Bolligar, Sean Harris, Josiah Sims, Aric Walden 14. BYU 12 9 400m Hurdles - Garrett Gerling, J Hopkins, Rashaun Johnson, Robert Shelby, 15. Southern Utah 11 NR 15. New Mexico 11 NR Dana Wells 15. Iowa 11 NR 4x100m Relay - Blanshan, Greg Hornsby, Johnson, Wilhite 18. Syracuse 10 NR 4x400m Relay - Bolligar, Dawson, Gerling, Harris, Hopkins, Hornsby, 18. Duke 10 NR Johnson, Shelby, Wells 18. Minnesota 10 8 High Jump - Michael Bolligar, Sean Harris 18. Tulsa 10 NR 22. Mississippi St. 9.5 6 Pole Vault - Jake Baertlein, Michael Bolligar, John Brenteson, Sean Harris 23. Georgia 9 17 Long Jump - no entry 23. Oral Roberts 9 NR Triple Jump - PJ Benedictus 23. Nebraska 9 19 Shot Put - Joe Bartlett Discus - Joe Bartlett, Oliver Henry t-56. Washington St. 2 49 Hammer - no entry MEN’S INDIVIDUAL INDOOR Javelin - Derek Byrne, Sam Ferenchak RANKINGS Event Name Prediction / Finish LJ Stephan Scott-Ellis 6th / 13th TJ Stephan Scott-Ellis 10th / 7th WASHINGTON STATE TRACK & FIELD RELEASE Fri., March 23 and Sat., March 24 @ USC Trojan Invitational, Los Angeles Page 3

COUGAR HEAD COACH RICK SLOAN QUOTES ABOUT THIS WEEKEND: PRESEASON OUTDOOR RANKINGS BEGIN What level of competition do you expect at the meet? MARCH 22, 2012 “I think good competition. I think Oregon, USC, and BYU will be there, and I’m not sure about Texas A&M. The meet has changed a little bit. In past years, it was kind of ‘Cal State everybody,’ and there still are high USTFCCCA INDOOR T&F RANKINGS school events in it. I think the schedule will be a little bit tighter now and the WOMEN’S TOP 25 TEAMS competition should be better.” Final 2012 Results

Rank School Total Last Ranking Are the Cougars ready for that kind of competition this early in the outdoor 1. Oregon 49 1 season? 2. Kansas 30 6 “I think so. It is early in the outdoor season for everybody. I think our 3. LSU 27 3 people competed well indoors by-and-large, so we just need to make that 4. Texas 25 9 5. Clemson 24 4 transition to the outdoor season. They have a distance carnival going on 5. Arkansas 24 2 Friday night, and we will not be involved in that with our distance runners. 5. Texas A&M 24 5 We will have them ready next weekend when we go down for the UCLA- 8. UCF 23 15 Tennessee double dual meet. We have some good athletes going down 9. Florida 22 7 there and we should be represented in the competition.” 10. Iowa State 21 14 11. Arizona 19 12 11. BYU 19 13 Do you like this facility (Locker Stadium)? 13. Stanford 18 16 “It’s fine. It’s a turf infield, which is somewhat limiting on the throwing 13. Southern Illinois 18 11 implements. They take a little bit of a pounding out there. The track itself is 15. California 16 8 long straightaways – tight turns and long straightaways. But it is Southern 16. Georgetown 15 21 16. Baylor 15 23 California and the weather should be pretty good for us – it looks like it is 18. Illinois State 14 NR going to be 65 and dry, and for us that is great- and the competition is good. 18. Ohio State 14 19 The facility is not that big of a consequence.” 20. Florida State 13 NR 21. Connecticut 11 25 SCOTT-ELLIS SCORES AT NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 21. Wisconsin 11 24 23. Washington 10 10 WSU junior Stephan Scott-Ellis (Tacoma) took seventh place in the men’s 23. Michigan State 10 NR triple jump and 13th in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships... 23. Stony Brook 10 NR he earned All-America honors for his triple jump finish and second-team 23. Oklahoma 10 NR All-America honors for his long jump finish...Scott-Ellis is the defending 23. TCU 10 17 Pac-10 triple jump champion.

DNC. Washington State NR COUGARS SIGNING RECRUITING CLASS FOR 2013 SEASONS Six outstanding performers have signed National Letters of Intent to join ______the WSU Track & Field teams for fall 2012: Kristine Felix, a pole vaulter from Wailuku, Hawai’i WEST REGIONAL INDOOR RANKINGS FINAL RANKINGS Feb. 21, 2012 Byron Howell, a sprinter from Seattle Jesse Jorgensen, an 800m runner from Puyallup, Wash. / Spokane CC Men Women Dominique Keel, a sprinter from Beaverton, Ore. Rank School Rank School Matthew Swanson, an 800m runner from Vancouver, B.C. Canada 1. Arizona State 1. Oregon Kelsie Taylor, a thrower from Naches, Wash. 2. Arizona 2. Stanford 3. Stanford 3. Arizona Mercedes Young, a sprinter from Country Club Hills, Ill. 4. Oregon 4. Washington 5. Washington 5. Arizona State 6. Boise State 6. California 7. UCLA 7. USC . 8. Washington State 8. San Diego State 9. California 9. UCLA 10. Idaho 10. Sacramento State 11. Long Beach State 11. UNLV 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 Fri., March 23 and Sat., March 24 @ USC Trojan Invitational, Los Angeles Page 4

COUGAR ALUMS AT WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2012 MARKS RECORDED IN Bernard Lagat (USA) won the 3000m gold medal with a time of 7:41.44 at THE WSU T&F RECORD BOOK the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships March 9-11, at , Turkey.. third consecutive gold for Lagat, the USA team captain...Ebba Jungmark Women All-Time Marks (Sweden) shared the silver medal in the women’s high jump after clearing 1.95m/6-4 3/4...Jungmark was the NCAA Indoor high jump champion in 2008. Pole Vault t-9th. 3.66m / 12-0i LAGAT STILL WINNING ON THE NATIONAL Carly Fitzpatrick AND INTERNATIONAL STAGE Bernard Lagat, a WSU graduate, won his third Pentathlon IAAF World Championships gold medal in 4th. 3,609 points the men’s 3000m Mar. 11 at Istanbul, Turkey... Shaquana Logan Lagat (pictured left) ran a time of 7:41.44 in the win...Lagat tallied his third consecutive USA indoor 3000m title Feb. 25 at the Albuquer- Men All-Time Marks que Convention Center in a time of 7:47.54... Lagat, 37, defied his age and ran a blistering Long Jump 25.42-second last lap to complete the fastest 10th. 7.75m / 25-5 1/4i winning time at the USA Indoor T&F Champi- Stephan Scott-Ellis onships in five years.

Triple Jump 10th. 15.98m / 52-5 1/4i Stephan Scott-Ellis

Heptathlon BERNARD LAGAT BREAKS AMERICAN 5K RECORD AT 2nd. 5,406 points WSU Athletic Hall of Fame member Bernard Lagat won the 5,000-meter race Michael Bolligar with an American record time of 13-07.15 Feb. 11,at the 105th Millrose Games (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... COUGAR ATHLETICS ON THE WEB also competing at the Millrose Games Saturday was former Cougar Jeshua Connect with Washington State Uni- Anderson who ran in a special 500m race, taking second place in a time of versity Athletics on the web at WSU- 1:01.86....race video and a link to story in the New York Daily News about the Cougars.com, the official website Millrose Games can be found on the wsucougars.com website. of Cougar Athletics, and on (twitter.com/WSUCougars_com), Facebook (facebook.com/WSUCou- garAthletics) and YouTube (youtube. com/WSUCougarAthletics) during the 2012 season.

WASHINGTON STATE TRACK & FIELD RELEASE Fri., March 23 and Sat., March 24 @ USC Trojan Invitational, Los Angeles Page 5

2011 Track & Field News Men’s World Rankings Bernard Lagat, 5000m - 2nd Jeshua Anderson, 400m Hurdles - 9th

2011 Track & Field News Women’s World Rankings Ebba Jungmark, High Jump - 7th

2011 Track & Field News Men’s United States Rankings Bernard Lagat, 1500m - 2nd ANDERSON SEATTLE STAR FINALIST Bernard Lagat, 5000m - 1st Jeshua Anderson was a finalist for the Male Sports Star of the Year at the Jeshua Anderson, 400m Hurdles - 3rd 77th Annual Sports Star of the Year presented by the Seattle Sports Commis- sion January 25, 2012...there were five nominees in each category: Profes- , Discus - 2nd sional Sports Star, Male Sports Star, Female Sports Star and Sports Story of the Year...nominees were selected by a committee comprised of Seattle-area 2011 Track & Field News sports historians, media and major programs and franchises...fans voted Women’s United States once every 24-hours for one nominee in each category online...Washington Rankings football player Chris Polk won the 2012 award...Anderson, the USA 400m Blessing Ufodiama, Triple Jump - 3rd hurdles champion and three-time NCAA intermediate hurdles champion, is training as a professional runner in Pullman with his collegiate coach Mark Marissa Tschida, Javelin - 4th Macdonald...Anderson finished second in the special 500m race at the 105th Millrose Games in a time of 1:01.86, Feb. 11 at ’s Armory.

DREW POLLEY TAKES 21st AT OLYMPIC TRIALS Cougar grad Drew Polley placed 21st at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials held January 14, 2012, in ...Polley, from Port Orchard, Wash., has NCAA & ESPN AGREE TO B’CAST been running professionally for nearly three years for the Hansons-Brooks OUTDOOR T&F CHAMPIONSHIPS Distance Project based in Rochester, Michigan...Polley is well-represented The NCAA Division I Track & Field with videos and blogs on the Flotrack.org website. Championships are part of a $500 million agreement between the NCAA and ESPN to broadcast mul- tiple sports championships through the 2023-24 school year...ESPN has international rights to men’s basket- ball and continues U.S. coverage of women’s basketball tourney and the College World Series for baseball and softball...championships increase to 24, adding women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s fencing, wom- en’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s outdoor track, and women’s bowling.