Colby Gilbert takes seventh in men's 3000 at NCAA D1 nationals; CWU's Kodiak Landis finishes third in NCAA D2 heptathlon...


The NCAA Division I indoor track & field championships in College Station, Texas concluded Saturday with the University of Washington’s Colby Gilbert (left/photo by Paul Merca) finishing in seventh place in the men’s 3000 meters on the campus of Texas A&M University.

In what was a tactical race for the first two kilometers, Gilbert ran 8:07.26, as Northern Arizona’s Andy Trouard ran 8:04.94, finishing with a 26.23 last lap to foil Syracuse’s Justyn Knight’s attempt to get the 3000/5000m double (he won the 5000 Friday night, and ran 8:05.76 to get second in the 3000).

Fellow Husky Amy-Eloise Neale finished in 12th place in the women’s 3000, running 9:20.24.

Missouri’s Karissa Schweitzer completed her personal 3000/5000 double, winning in 8:53.36.

The highlight of the meet was a world record set in the men’s 400 by USC’s Michael Norman, who ran 44.52 to beat the old world record of 44.57 set by Kerron Clement at the 2005 NCAA indoor championships.


At the NCAA Division II championships in Pittsburg, Kansas Saturday, Central Washington’s 
GNAC heptathlon champ Kodiak Landis accumulated a two-day total of 5508 points to finish third in that event.

Landis, who began the day in eighth place at 2967 points, began day 2 by winning his heat of the 60 hurdles in 8.53.

He then vaulted 15-9 (4.80m), before running the 1000 meters in 2:43.08.

In an event in which the top three finished with over 5500 points, Spencer Jahn of Colorado Mesa won with a score of 5552 points.

Western Washington’s lone competitor, Jasmine McMullin, finished fourth in the women’s triple jump with a best of 41-1.5 (12.53m).

West Texas A&M’s Fatim Affessi won with a best of 42-11.5 (13.09m).

In the women’s pentathlon, Seattle Pacific’s Scout Cai finished fifth with a score of 3790 points, as she ran the 60 hurdles in 9.10, high jumped 5-4.5 (1.64m), threw the shot 35-3.75 (10.76m), long jumped 18-4.5 (5.60m), and ran the 800 in 2:20.98.

Central Washington’s HarLee Ortega was eighth with a final score of 3702, while teammate Ali Anderson was 11th with 3610 points, as Kami Norton of Angelo State won with 3983 points.

A few hours after finishing the pentathlon, Anderson finished eighth in the finals of the women’s 400, running 56.02, as Shannon Kalawan of St. Augustine’s won in 54.54.


NOTE:  The NCAA, and the sports information offices of the University of Washington, Western Washington, Central Washington and Seattle Pacific contributed to this report.

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