Final Results

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The men's team swept the javelin, Austin Corley ran an NCAA leading time in the 400m hurdles and the women set four total personal records.
 
Senior All-American Damien Odle led the men in the javelin winning the event with a throw of 67.87m/222-8, his first victory since winning the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Championship. Odle redshirted the 2017 season after suffering an injury in the summer of 2016.
 
"It feels good to get a win," Odle said. "I know there is a lot left inside of me and there are still a few things I need to put together before I get some big throws."
 
True Freshman Taran Taylor battled back and forth with Odle to finish second with a personal best 67.25m/220-7, a mark that registers as the 10th furthest in Shocker history. After the first round of throws, Odle led with a mark of 62.54m. Taylor battled back in the second round of throws taking the lead with a mark of 65.64m and would hold on to the lead until the final round of throws when Odle recorded a mark of 67.87m to win the event.
 
"Being a part of one of the nation's best javelin crews is huge in our success," said Odle. "Today was an example of that as Taran and I went back and forth with the lead. We all push each other to throw further and having several guys throw in the high 60m is hard to find. I'm fortunate to train with and learn from this great group of javelin throwers."
 
 John Hoplin placed third with a throw of 63.23m/207-5, Davon Spexarth finished sixth with a personal best 58.42m/191-8 and Jeff Ast placed seventh (58.25m/191-1).
 
Austin Corley highlighted the running events for the men, Corley won the 400m hurdles with an NCAA leading time of 51.25. The Adrian, Mo., native has the second fastest time in Shocker history in the 400m hurdles (50.29).  Isaac Poe placed third with a time of 53.30.
 
Jared Belardo led the men's triple jump group finishing second with a mark of 15.18m/49-9.75 and true freshman Rayvon Allen placed third (14.95m/49-0.75). Allen also impressed in the long jump finishing third with a mark of 7.65m/25-1.25, the St. Louis, Mo., native recorded the eighth furthest jump in school history.
 
True Freshman Miles Griffith started his 2018 outdoor season strong with a third place finish in the high jump clearing 2.06m/6-9, .01m short of his personal best.
 
Isaiah Evans had strong performances with two top-10 finishes, including a sixth place finish in the hammer throw with a personal best mark of 52.38m/171-10. Evans placed seventh in the discus throw (46.27m/151-9).
 
Clifford Robinson III ran 10.73 to place fourth in the 100m dash.
 
In the middle-distance and distance races, Zack Penrod highlighted the day with a fifth place finish in the 800m invitational with a time of 1:52.34. Cory Landon led the Shockers in the 1500m with a fourth place finish (3:58.62), followed by Ben Flowers in fifth place (3:59.92).
 
"I am really pleased with how our team did today for our outdoor season opener," head track and field director Steve Rainbolt said. "We had a lot of good things happen, I was particularly impressed with our men's javelin group, Austin Corley in the 400m hurdles and Rayvon Allen in the long jump. For a season opener this was a particularly solid outing for the Shockers."

The women's team set four personal best, highlighted by Winny Koskei who finished the 3000m in second place with a personal best time and ninth fastest time in WSU history of 9:57.04. Paula Garcia ran a personal best and the seventh fastest time in Shocker history in the 100m (11.74) finishing 11th, McKenna Paintin set a personal best in the 1500m (4:54.35) to place 11th and Amanda Kakoulias set a personal best in the javelin with a throw of 39.65m/130-1 to place eighth.
 
Kelsey Tenbrink led the javelin throwers with a third place finish (41.53m/136-3), followed by Kakoulias in eighth (39.65m), Krisha Parmar in 10th (36.77m/120-7), Meagan Williams in 11th (36.31m/119-1) and Jessica Gardiner in 13th (34.67m/113-9).
 
Kelsey Slawson led the throwers in the shot put with a fourth place finish (14.61m/47-11.25), followed by Tyra Bickham in sixth (14.22m/46-8), Cassiday Androff in 11th (12.33m/40-5.5), Williams in 12th (12.25m/40-2.25) and Kakoulias in 13th (11.93m/39-1.75). Bickham also recorded a top-10 finish in the discus with a mark of 40.69m/133-6, good enough for eighth.
 
In the jumps Katie Murray led the group with a fifth place finish in the high jump clearing 1.65m/5-5, followed by Shania VanNoster in ninth (1.55m/5-1). Meghan Holmes led in the horizontal jumps finishing eighth in the long jump equaling her personal best mark of 5.68m/18-7.75.
 
The Shocks finished two in the top-10 of the 400m hurdles, led by Alexi Whatley in seventh (1:04.40). Natalie Halfman placed ninth with a time of 1:07.62.

The Shockers are next in action as the team will split sending athletes to the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas, and the ESU Relays in Emporia, Kan. The distance team will split as well with athletes competing at the Stanford Invitational in Stanford, Calif., and the San Francisco State Distance Carnival in San Francisco, Calif.