Pickler breaks own WSU hurdles record

Washington State All-American heptathlete Diana Pickler broke her school record in the women’s 100-meter hurdles Saturday at the Stanford Invitational Track and Field Meet at Cobb Track and Angell Field in Stanford, Calif.

Pickler, a senior co-captain and four-time All-American, finished in 13.31 seconds, bettering her school-record time of 13.42 set last weekend at the Trojan Invitational.

Pickler finished in fifth place. USC’s Candice Davis won the race in 12.91 and former Idaho standout and Canadian Olympian Angela Whyte was second with a time of 12.99.

WSU’s Brandi Probasco-Canda finished fifth in the 400 with a time of 54.95 and teammate Kaylee Gardner took seventh in the triple jump with a leap of 39-1 ¼.

In the men’s high jump, Kyle Eaton cleared 6-7 to finish tied for ninth.

“Eastern Washington’s David Paul qualified for the NCAA West Regionals and six other Eagles men qualified for the Big Sky Championships after EWU split a head-to-head competition with Montana and Montana State at the Al Manuel Invitational in Missoula.

The Eastern men beat Montana State 103-89 and fell to Montana 98-96.

Paul qualified for the NCAA Regionals in the hammer throw, shot put and discus.

On the women’s side, five Eagles qualified for the Big Sky Championships and one qualified for the NCAA West Regionals. Senior Carolee Gutierrez qualified for the NCAAs in the javelin with a throw of 167 feet, 9 inches. “The Whitworth men won the team title at the Whitworth Buc Scoring Invitational at Boppell Track and Whitworth Pine Bowl.

The Pirates men won with 206 points. CC Spokane (53) was fifth and Gonzaga (27) was seventh.

Northwest Nazarene (222) won the women’s title. Whitworth (113.5) took third, CCS (98.5) was fifth and Gonzaga (16) finished seventh.

Baseball

California’s Charlie Cutler hit a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Golden Bears topped Washington State 6-2 in a Pac-10 Conference game at Evans Diamond in Berkeley, Calif.

Holding on to a 3-2 lead heading into the eighth, California (17-13, 2-0) scored three runs for insurance.

Nick Ison (3-4) took the loss for the Cougars (15-12, 0-5), who have lost the first two of their three-game series.

“Matt Smith notched four hits and Brett Wallace added three, including a two-run home run in the fifth inning, as No. 16 Arizona State (22-10, 3-2) handed Washington its first Pac-10 loss of the year, beating the Huskies (15-10, 4-1) 11-5 at Husky Ballpark in Seattle.

Curt Rindal went 2 for 5 with three RBIs to lead Washington.

“Dan Ramsey went 3 for 5 with four RBIs as Whitworth edged visiting Whitman (3-19, 1-10) 14-13 in the first game of a Northwest Conference doubleheader sweep.

In the second game, Chad Flett allowed four hits while striking out 10 as Whitworth (9-14, 7-7) won 9-0. Ramsey hit a two-run homer in the seventh for the Pirates.

“CC Spokane and Columbia Basin split an NWAACC doubleheader at Spokane Falls CC. In the first game, Aaron Guinn (2-0) gave up five hits in the complete game as the host Sasquatch (11-11, 1-3) won 4-3.

In the second game, the Hawks (17-6, 2-2) scored seven runs in the fourth and cruised to a 10-4 victory.

Softball

Bianca Cruz hit a two-run homer in the sixth, giving No. 7 Arizona State a 2-1 win over No. 12 Washington (22-9, 0-2) at Husky Softball Stadium in Seattle.

Katie Burkhart earned the win for the Sun Devils (36-7, 2-0), giving up five hits while striking out 11 in the complete game.

“Mandee Edwards hit a three-run home run in the third inning as Whitworth routed visiting George Fox (5-15, 3-9) 14-6 in the first game of a Northwest Conference doubleheader sweep.

In the second game, Jennifer Eckhoff allowed three hits while striking out eight as Whitworth (15-3, 10-0) won 2-0.

“Melissa Piephoff, Heather Coulter and Jackie Purser each hit home runs as CC Spokane (8-8, 4-2) topped host Blue Mountain 9-4 in the first game of a NWAACC doubleheader in Pendleton, Ore.

In the second game, Ashley Densmore allowed two runs on two hits as the Timberwolves (11-12, 4-4) won 5-2.

Rowing

The Washington State women advanced all three boats to today’s grand finals at the San Diego Crew Classic.

The Cougars varsity 8, second varsity, and novice 8 boats will all move onto today’s Grand Final on Mission Bay.

Swimming

The Washington State 400-meter medley relay team of Afton Pickett, Elyse Peterson, Michaela Ahlin and Erin McCleave took first place in their heat and second place overall in the final day of competition at the U.S. Spring National Championships in East Meadow, N.Y. The group combined for a time of 4:18.56.