Jeshua Anderson celebrates and receives standing ovation after winning 400 meter hurdle title. (Photo courtesy of WSU Athletics)
EUGENE, Ore. — Three WSU athletes scored championship titles this past weekend, May 17, at the Pac-10 Track and Field Championships at Oregon’s Hayward, including:
- Jeshua Anderson, 400 meter intermediate hurdles
- Lorraine King, 400 meter intermediate hurdles
- Trent Arrivey, men’s high jump
Both team titles were captured by Oregon with the men scoring 158 points and the women scoring 165.5 points. The WSU men finished fourth among the Pac-10 teams with 91 points, the highest team finish for the Cougs since 1998 (fourth). The Cougar women scored 44 points for ninth.
To photos of their victories, see the gallery at the right, click on the photos to enlarge them. To see a full gallery of photos of WSU athletes at the Pac-10 championships, click here.
Jeshua Anderson (sophomore, Woodland Hills, Calif.), successfully defended his Pac-10 400m hurdles title and ran a season-best and national-leading time of 48.90 seconds.
Anderson, who is also the defending NCAA Champion, led the race from the gun and won his second-consecutive conference title by nearly 2 seconds. Anderson received a standing ovation on his victory lap from the appreciative Eugene crowd. “I was looking to run in the 48’s,”
Anderson said after a relay race, “Once I got past the wind in the first part of the race, I finished strong in the last segment. I’ve been doing strength workouts for football and they have been showing in my track performance. I perform better in championship meets and am looking for my time to improve in the next meets. I am not taking any race lightly, I stay hungry.”
WSU women’s team captain Lorraine King (senior, Fontana, Calif.) won the women’s 400m hurdles in a lifetime-best time of 57.51 seconds, the second-fastest women’s intermediate hurdles race in WSU history. King became the first Cougar woman to win a conference intermediate hurdles title and did so comfortably over runner-up Delilah Muhammad’s time of 58.21.
“Finally! I knew I could do this. I did this in last Sunday’s practice and thought `why can’t I do this now?’ I PR’d by almost a whole second,” King said post race. “Throughout the season I was holding back: I had some small, minor injuries that were holding me back. This is a huge blessing to get through this. Getting to this point, knowing who I am, it brings everything together.”
Trent Arrivey (junior, Woodinville) won the men’s high jump by clearing the bar at 7-feet, 2 1/4 inches (2.19m) and Ryan Deese (sophomore, Colorado Springs, Colo.) took fifth place after clearing 6-8 3/4 (2.05m).
Arrivey is tied for the national-lead with his personal record of 7-4 1/2 (2.25m). Sunday he passed until clearing the bar at heights of 6-8 3/4 and 6-10 3/4 on his first tries. It took him two attempts at the next three bars, including the winning height of 7-2 1/4. He miss all three attempts at 7-3 1/4.
“I’m glad I could do my part to help my Cougs place well at this meet,” Arrivey said at the conclusion of the meet. “I dedicate this title to my good friend and training partner Shawn Swartz (freshman from Port Coquitlam, B.C.) who was just diagnosed with leukemia and couldn’t be here this weekend. We’re all thinking about him and hoping for the best.”
