Breaking Barriers

MARK MOSCHETTI • FOR GO HUSKIES MAGAZINE

It started with the mile. Extended to the 800. Moved on to the medley. And when the Washington Huskies weren’t speeding on the track, they were flying and flinging to noteworthy numbers in the field.

For three wonderfully wild weekends – the last one in January and the first two in February – UW athletes shined in the spotlight like never before.

All of that has the Huskies looking ahead to wrapping up the winter in Albuquerque, N.M., at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. That gathering of the Division I’s best inside the Albuquerque Convention Center is set for Friday and Saturday, March 10 and 11. Go to GoHuskies.com for news and results.

Based on the national lists after the conclusion of the Husky Classic on Feb. 11, Washington potentially could have as many as four top-8 point scorers in the men’s mile, and one each in the men’s 3,000-meter, 5,000-meter and weight throw.

The women have a title contender in the distance medley relay, a pair of possible top-8s in the pole vault, and one each in the 800, mile, and pentathlon. A handful of other Husky men and women are on the cusp of being among the top 8. As they prepare for the NCAAs, both teams are still ranked among the top five nationally, with the men having had a one-week stay in the No. 1 spot.

On Sat., Aug. 7, 1954, the immortal Roger Bannister of England and John Landy of Australia did what had never been done before.

Competing side-by-side on a brand-new track at the British Empire Games in Vancouver, B.C., both broke four minutes in the mile: 3:58.8 for Bannister, 3:59.6 for Landy. Even though both had run in the threes previously, this was the first time two runners had pulled off that feat in the same race.

On Jan. 26, a group of Washington milers quadrupled that sub-4 accomplishment. Not two of them. Not four of them. Not even six of them. It was eight of them. From Joe Waskom’s school-record 3:51.90 to Aidan Ryan’s 3:59.55, the Huskies pulled off their pre-race plan of getting everyone under the magical four mark.

Like Bannister and Landy, all of them had done it previously in different meets. But never together.

“We all knew it was possible. But it’s tough to do it in the same race,” Waskom, the defending NCAA outdoor 1,500-meter champion, said on GoHuskies.com. (His time was a Dempsey Indoor record and the third-fastest in college history.) “The pacing has to be perfect. Johnny (Gregorek) and Sam (Prakel) brought us through perfectly. (Gregorek and Prakel served as pacers for approximately the first 1,200 meters). All of us working hard together, Brian (Fay) and Nathan (Green) pushing me that last 200 — it was hard. But it’s so special doing it with your teammates and seeing everyone thrive and succeed around you.”

As for those times in the real “Miracle Mile” — the race people still talk about 68 years later? Bannister would have finished behind seven of the Huskies, and Landy would have finished behind all eight.

With talk of the previous night’s mile fireworks still buzzing around Dempsey Indoor, Cass Elliott sparked some 800-meter chatter on Jan. 28. The senior raced to a school indoor record time of 1:47.22. That moved him past Izaic Yorks on the all-time UW list. Yorks, whose mile record went down less than 24 hours earlier, had posted a 1:47.89 in 2016.

But the new standard didn’t last long. At the Husky Classic on Feb. 11, redshirt freshman Nathan Green clocked 1:46.99.

On Feb. 4 in Boston at the Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational, it was Carley Thomas breaking the UW women’s indoor record in the 800. She came across the line in 2:02.15 seconds. That not only eclipsed her own indoor record of 2:02.75, which she set in 2020, it was the fastest UW women’s 800 time in history – indoors or outdoors.

But Thomas already was in a record-breaking state of mind. On Feb. 3, racing on the same Boston track, she ran the 800-meter third leg on the distance medley relay team that became the fastest college women’s squad ever for that 4,000-meter event.

The foursome of Sophie O’Sullivan (1,200 meters), Marlena Preigh (400), Thomas (800) and Anna Gibson (1,600) went the distance in 10 minutes, 46.62 seconds. The old mark of 10:48.77 was set in 2017 by Oregon. The previous best Washington DMR time was 10:55.01, which was fast enough to win the NCAA title in 2012.

On Feb. 17 in Arkansas, the Washington men took their turn in the distance medley spotlight with the second-fastest time in collegiate and world indoor history. The foursome of Joe Waskom (1,200), Daniel Gaik (400), Cass Elliott (800), and Kieran Lumb (1,600) went the distance in 9:16.65 at the Arkansas Qualifier in Fayetteville. The only team to ever run it faster was the Oklahoma State team that was on the track at the same time as the Huskies. OSU finished in 9:16.40. The old record of 9:19.42 was set by Oregon in 2021.

Jacob Englar watched the pole vault bar keep going up on Jan. 28, the second day of the UW Invitational. And he kept going over it.

After clearing 17-11¼ on his third attempt, Englar kept the drama going on the next bar, which was 18-1¼. He cleared that one on his third attempt, his first-ever 18-footer and moving him up to No. 3 on the UW Indoor list.

Last-attempt dramatics weren’t limited to the pole vault runway. On Feb. 11, fifth-year thrower MaKayla Kelby heaved the shot 55 feet, 10 ½ inches. That was far enough to break her own school record by seven full inches.

Kelby already had thrown a season-best 54-1 on her first attempt, which was plenty far enough to put her into the finals. The record-setter came on her sixth and last attempt of the day.

Ida Eikeng’s accomplishments in the outdoor heptathlon are well documented, the most recent of which was an NCAA runner-up performance last spring. Now, she likely will get a chance at some indoor multi-event hardware, as well.

Competing at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Neb., on Feb. 3, Eikeng racked up 4,198 points to set a Washington pentathlon record. Her total was high enough to squeeze her past Hannah Rusnak’s old record total of 4,190.