Comito hurls way to third D-III title

Whitworth senior Carter Comito hurled his way to a third-straight NCAA Division III outdoor championship in the discus on Thursday with a championship-meet-record throw of 198 feet, 1 inch at La Crosse, Wis.

Comito earned his third consecutive D-III title after opening the finals with a mark of 191-10, which broke the Roger Harring Stadium track record and and was over 13 1/2 feet farther than the second-place effort of Defiance’s Tom Postema (178-03).

NCAA West preliminary: Todd Wakefield won his heat of the men’s 1,500 meters in 3 minutes, 47.13 seconds to highlight five Washington State athletes advancing out of the first round in Austin, Texas.

Courtney Zalud ran a lifetime-best 2:08.22 in the women’s 800-meter race to advance on time and will be joined in today’s competition by Ruby Roberts (1,500, 4:23.90), Jesse Jorgensen (800, 1:51.21) and Shawna Fermin (400, 53.77).

Idaho’s Liga Velvere finished third in her heat in the 400-meter hurdles at 59.64 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Softball

Victoria Hayward singled in the top of the eighth inning to plate Kelli Suguro and reliever Bryana Walker shut the door in the bottom half as Washington defeated Missouri 2-1 in Game 1 of their NCAA Super Regional series in Columbia, Mo.

Shawna Wright tied the game in the seventh inning with an infield single that scored pinch runner Dani Braun.

Junior Kaitlin Inglesby started the game for the Huskies, holding the Tigers to four hits and striking out three.

The teams play Game 2 of the best-of-three series at 3 p.m. today in Columbia.