Tag: Washington Huskies Track and Field

Huskies set two indoor track records in distance medley relay

Washington’s track and field team finished with an American record in the distance medley relay at Friday’s Arkansas Qualifier.

The Washington Huskies set two records on the track on Friday.

Washington’s combination of Joe Waskom, Daniel Gaik, Nathan Green, and Luke Houser finished the distance medley relay in 9:18.81, the fastest men’s indoor time by an American team ever recorded. The previous record by an all American team in the indoor version of the event was 9:19.93, set by Team USA in 2015.

Waskom and Gaik were part of the relay team that set the second-best collegiate time in the event regardless of setting last year with a 9:16.65, but that time did not qualify for the record broken on Friday because their teammate Kieran Lumb is Canadian.

The record took place at the Arkansas Qualifier, a meet designed for squads to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in various relay events. It was the first time the Huskies men had run the distance medley this season.

The distance medley relay begins with a 1200 meter (roughly 3/4 of a mile) leg, followed by a 400 meter leg, 800 meter leg, and anchored by a 1600 meter (approximately a mile) run. It is the only collegiate relay where every leg is a different distance, and the NCAA only recognizes times from 2015 and on as record-eligible.

The Huskies began the race with Waskom, a redshirt senior from Snoqualmie, Washington, who holds the school record in the mile and indoor 1500m. Gaik, a senior from Kent who transferred to UW from Eastern Washington, handled the 400m leg. Four-time first team All-American and 2023 NCAA 1500m champion Green, a junior from Boise, Idaho, ran the 800m section. Houser, a senior from Woodinville, Washington, who owns the first NCAA indoor mile title in school history, closed it out during the mile section.

On the women’s side, Washington’s combination of Chloe Foerster, Anna Terrell, Marlena Preigh, and Carley Thomas ran a 10:43.39 at Boston’s Terrier DMR Challenge, smashing a record the Huskies set last year at the same event by over three seconds. The time was also good for the 8th-fastest indoor women’s DMR time in world history.

Foerster, a sophomore from Portland, Oregon who set the school record in the mile last week, led off for the Huskies. She passed the baton to Terrell, a sophomore from Palos Verdes, California, who kept UW at the front of the pack. Preigh, a senior from Boulder, Colorado who was on last year’s record-setting team, briefly relinquished but then regained the lead during the 800m section. That gave Thomas, a senior from Australia who holds the school record in both the indoor and outdoor 800m, a 20 meter lead going into the mile leg.

Teams from Providence and BYU also went under Washington’s record set in 2023, but the Huskies prevailed.

The Huskies’ performance clinched both teams a spot at the NCAA Indoor Championships, which will be held on March 8 and 9 in Boston.