Six Track Recruits Join Up In Early Period
December 15, 2015 | Track & Field
SEATTLE – Washington will head into the new year with some new Dawgs signed to the squad. During the recent fall signing period, the Husky track staff brought six Huskies aboard for the 2016-17 season. Four native Washingtonians, and two standout distance runners from Texas and California comprise the first group of commits.
New future Huskies include two women's distance runners, Katherine Penner and Nikki Zielinski, and one men's distance runner, David Strome. Jose Padilla throws shot put and discus, and Zach Shugart and Abby Weiler are both pole vault standouts.
Penner from just across Lake Washington in Bellevue, was the sixth-place finisher at the 2015 Washington 3A state cross country championships, and was eighth at Nike Border Clash this year. She was a state track meet qualifier last year in the 800-meters, 1600-meters, and the 4x400 relay for Bellevue High School. She heads into her senior season with a PR of 2:14.89 at 800-meters and 4:59.43 at 1,600-meters.
Zielinski qualified for the Foot Locker XC National Championships this fall, and placed 25th in the finals in San Diego on Dec. 12. A native of Anaheim Hills, Calif., Zielinski made the finals by taking seventh in the Foot Locker West Regional meet. She was sixth in the D-II CIF State Championships this fall and won the Crestview League title. As a junior on the track last spring she was ninth in the 3,200-meter state finals and ran a PR of 10:52.96.
David Strome comes to Washington from Colleyville, Texas, where he was the 6A state cross country champion in 2014. He was sixth in the 3,200-meter state finals last spring, and was third at the 2015 Texas Distance Festival in the 5,000-meters. This fall Strome was third at the 6A state cross country meet. He also was 86th at the 2014 Nike Cross Nationals meet.
An in-state product from Chelan, Padilla won his first state title last season at the 1A level, winning the discus with a toss of 164-6 one meet after setting a PR of 171-7 which was sixth-best in the state last year. He also had the fourth-best shot put in the state at any level last year at 57-5 ½ and has two top-three state finishes in the shot.
Two of the top pole vault recruits in the country will look to build on UW's great tradition in that event. Shugart, from Bishop Blanchet High School, won the 3A state pole vault title this past spring, and ranked in the top-25 nationally with a PR make of 16-5. He got a big win at the 2015 World Youth Trials with a make of 16-2 ¾, and went on to compete at the World Youth Championships in Columbia, finishing 16th overall. Shugart ranks seventh nationally among all high school returners this year.
Weiler was tied for ninth in the U.S. last year with her career-best clearance of 13-6, one of the best marks ever for a Husky recruit. The product of Longview, Wash. is tied for fourth among returners nationally. Weiler had six more meets where she cleared 13-feet last year, including a win at the Oregon Relays at 13-1 ½ and a third-place finish at the Arcadia Invite at 13-1. Weiler raised her PR by more than a foot as a junior, as it was the first season she focused fully on the vault.
