University of Washington
NCAA Indoor Championships
Thoirs, Women's DMR Place Top-Five At NCAAs
March 14, 2015 | Track & Field
NCAA Indoor Championships
March 13-14 - Fayetteville, Ark. - Randal Tyson Center
Flotrack Workout With The UW Pole Vault Crew
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Top-five finishes from junior pole vaulter Jax Thoirs and the women's distance medley relay got the Huskies on the scoreboard on both sides at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Arkansas at the Randal Tyson Center. Thoirs finished fourth to post five points for the men and the DMR came in fifth to score four points for the women's team, earning all five athletes All-America First Team honors.
Closing the night out for the Dawgs was the distance medley relay, which ran its best time back in January, and then had to wait nervously to see if it would make the cut as only the top-twelve teams make NCAAs in the relays. The Huskies wound up as the last team in, but came in chasing a top-eight finish.
This was the first appearance for the women's DMR at NCAAs since winning the title in 2012. Baylee Mires, who ran the 800m leg on the 2012 team, was the lead-off runner tonight, carrying the first 1,200-meters. Despite losing a shoe just one lap in, Mires came to the hand-off in seventh-place, passing to Gianna Woodruff, UW's 400m hurdles All-American.
Woodruff kept the Huskies in seventh after her 400-meter carry despite some chaos at the second hand-off, with teams criss-crossing and a baton falling. The Huskies also almost lost the stick, but Eleanor Fulton was able to grasp it and get going on her 800-meter leg. Fulton passed to Maddie Meyers in seventh-place, with four teams having opened up a gap, and then UW in another group of three teams, followed by another gap back to the next five.
Meyers would win that three-team battle, working her way past New Mexico and Georgetown into fifth-place, which is where the Huskies would wind up. The Seattle native and Northwest School product ran the final 1,600-meter leg in 4:38.94.
“I am very proud, I think everyone ran like a champ,” Meyers said. “Baylee lost a shoe, Gianna put up a really good fight against those girls, and Eleanor kicked it in and passed a couple teams, so I think everyone just did a great job. I had a couple girls in my sights, which was nice. Anyone who is here is going to be talented and good, and we were aiming for top-eight, and I think we're super happy where we finished.”
Thoirs turned in the best yet of his three NCAA Championship appearances today. The Scottish National Record-Holder tied for eighth at this meet a year ago and was 13th at last year's NCAA Outdoor meet.
Thoirs started at the first height of the day, and got rolling quickly with a first attempt make at 17-0 ¾. Redshirt freshman Lev Marcus, making his first NCAA meet appearance, was unable to make that height, a tough end to a fantastic first indoor season for the Nathan Hale product.
From there, Thoirs had first attempt makes at 17-4 ½ and at 17-8 ½, which kept him in a tie for first-place throughout. He had his first miss of the day at 18-0 ½, but came right back with a clearance with plenty of room to spare, matching his season- and career-best indoors. Just four vaulters remained going up to 18-4 ½. Thoirs' first attempt was his best, as he just barely grazed the bar and dislodged it going over. On his second attempt, he was unable to swing up to the bar. Instead of jumping again at that height, Thoirs passed up to 18-6 ½, but he would not make that lifetime-best attempt, and wound up fourth.
“I was happy, I started off clean, everything was going well,” said Thoirs. “Making bars on first attempts just gives you confidence. My confidence was high all through the competition. As soon as I got over that 18-foot bar I was happy because I'd never jumped 18-feet at nationals before so that was good. But I just know I could have jumped higher so it's still a little bit disappointing, but I'll head into outdoors still hungry.”
Thoirs will earn his third All-America honor, and the second First Team honor of his career. His fourth-place finish is the best by a Husky since Scott Roth won consecutive indoor titles in 2010 and 2011. It's the seventh top-eight finish by a Husky men's vaulter at NCAA Indoors since 2001, all under assistant coach Pat Licari.
Jax making 17-8.5 pic.twitter.com/AoXkWAddXH
— UW Track (@UWTrack) March 13, 2015
The Huskies had a pair of milers on the track this evening looking to advance through to the finals, but neither Eleanor Fulton nor Izaic Yorks were able to have their best days. Fulton was up first, and slipped a bit off the pace after the first 800-meters, coming in eighth in her heat and winding up 13th overall in a time of 4:43.78. Yorks, who had broken four-minutes in his last two miles and set the school record, was in a great position early, sitting fourth for the first several laps. But the field bunched up late and Yorks got shuffled back in the pack. He made a push with two laps to go but was unable to get past the tough field, finishing eighth in the heat and 14th overall in 4:01.84.
Also making his NCAA Indoor debut tonight was two-time cross country All-American Aaron Nelson in the 5,000-meters. The Walla Walla native was around eighth with about ten laps to go, but slipped back to 13th in the sixteen-athlete field. Nelson, who set the school record and won the MPSF 5k title, never faded, and picked up another spot late, but had to settle for 12th in a time of 14:13.90, earning All-America Second Team honors, his first in track.
Saturday, the indoor season will finish up with four more Huskies in action. Kristina Owsinski and Diamara Planell Cruz will go in the women's pole vault starting at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, Maddie Meyers will double back to run the 3,000-meters at 6:00 p.m. and Colby Gilbert will race in the men's 3,000-meters at 8:15 p.m. Pacific.
NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships
Day 1 of 2 – March 13, 2015
Fayetteville, Ark. – Randal Tyson Center
Husky Results
Men
Mile Semifinal (Heat 1 of 2): 8 (14th overall; does not advance). Izaic Yorks, 4:01.84; 5,000m Final: 12. Aaron Nelson, 14:13.90; Pole Vault Final: 4. Jax Thoirs, 18-0 ½; -- Lev Marcus, NH.
Women
Mile Semifinal (Heat 1 of 2): 8 (13th overall; does not advance). Eleanor Fulton, 4:43.78; Distance Medley Relay: 5. Mires/Woodruff/Fulton/Meyers, 11:08.50.
First Team All-Americans
Jax Thoirs, Pole Vault
Eleanor Fulton, DMR
Maddie Meyers, DMR
Baylee Mires, DMR
Gianna Woodruff, DMR
Second Team All-Americans
Eleanor Fulton, Mile
Izaic Yorks, Mile
Lev Marcus, Pole Vault
Aaron Nelson, 5000m
Players Mentioned
