Anderson runs third straight world leading time in 400 hurdles at Sun Angel Classic...

TEMPE, Arizona—For the third straight meet this season, Washington State University alum Jeshua Anderson (left/photo by Paul Merca) ran the fastest time in the world in the 400 meter hurdles at the Sun Angel Classic Saturday night hosted by Arizona State University at Sun Angel Stadium.

Anderson ran 48.92 to take the victory over Texas A&M’s Robert Grant’s 49.73, and Washington State’s CJ Allen, who ran 50.16.

Allen’s mark moves him up to the #6 position in school history, and puts him in the top 15 in the world so far this season.

University Place resident Andrea Geubelle opened up her 2016 outdoor campaign by winning the women’s triple jump with a best of 44-10.75 (13.68m), the second furthest outdoor mark by an American so far this season (she has a season best of 45-7.75/13.91m set indoors on February 27th at the SPU Last Chance meet in Seattle).

Washington State had several athletes at the Sun Angel, besides Allen.

For the third-time this season, Ja’Maun Charles ran his 100m PR time of 10.59, today for fifth place. The talented freshman came back later to run a PR time in the 200m dash of 21.30 for fourth place, with teammate Terrance Chambers clocking in a time of 21.39 for sixth. 

Dominique Keel ran a PR time in the 400m dash of 54.88 to take seventh place with fellow Cougar senior Christiana Ekelem taking eight place with a PR time of 55.04. Keel doubled back to finish as the runner-up in the 200m dash with a time of 24.29 with WSU freshman Regyn Gaffney taking sixth in 24.73.

Liz Harper broke the 14-second barrier in the women’s 100m hurdles with her time of 13.88, 13th-best Saturday. She also long jumped 19-4 1/4w (5.90m), just four inches below her PR in the event, for ninth. 


In Eugene, Washington’s Colby Gilbert surprised Oregon’s Edward Cheserek in the men’s 5000 meters in a personal best of 13:44.96 to highlight the Huskies’ performance at the Pepsi Team Invitational featuring Washington, Penn State and USC.

Gilbert took the lead with three laps to go, and Cheserek, the 13-time NCAA champion sat behind Gilbert.  With 200 meters left, Gilbert put on a burst, and Cheserek did not respond.

The team battles were close throughout, with the Oregon women getting the win with 173 points, Penn State second at 166, and the Huskies third with 164, ahead of USC, fourth at 134. Penn State and Oregon tied for the men’s title with 181.5 points, with the Husky men third with 168 ahead of USC with 94.

In his outdoor season debut, Izaic Yorks led wire to wire to win the men’s 1500 in a personal best of 3:41.56.

Washington’s Anna Maxwell continued her strong outdoor showing, winning the women’s 1500 in 4:19.84, over teammate Maddie Meyers’ 4:20.06.

The Huskies took victories in both men’s and women’s races from 1500 meters on up on the day, with Katie Knight winning the women’s 5000 in 16:04.28, and Charlotte Prouse taking the steeplechase in a meet record 10:00.67.  On the men’s side, Andrew Gardner won the steeple in a personal best 8:53.27.

Oregon’s Marcus Chambers from Tacoma won the men’s 400 in 46.82 over the Huskies’ Jacopo Spano’s 47.66.

The Huskies’ Jax Thoirs (17-2.75/5.25m) and Liz Quick (12-11/3.94m) swept both the men’s and women’s pole vault titles.


NOTE:  The sports information departments of the University of Washington, Washington State, the University of Oregon, and Arizona State University contributed to this report.

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