Mead grad Andrew Gardner places fifth at NCAA championships

EUGENE - Kicking through damp conditions, Andrew Gardner made the most of his final collegiate race.

The University of Washington senior and Mead High grad finished fifth in the steeplechase Friday at the NCAA men’s track and field championships at rainy Historic Hayward Field, earning All-American honors.

Gardner’s time of 8 minutes, 37.07 seconds is the top steeplechase mark by a Husky since 1987, according to the school, and the best of his career.

Washington distance runner Cody Gilbert finished 22nd in the men’s 5000-meter men’s final.

At the women’s NCAA championships in Eugene, Washington State’s Alissa Brooks-Johnson finished the first day of the heptathlon Friday in 11th place.

Brooks-Johnson, a three-time Pac-12 heptathlon champion, scored 3,419 points. She ran a 13.84 in the 100 hurdes (13th), jumped 5-foot-5 in the high jump (15th) threw a lifetime best of 42-2 in the shot put (fourth) ran a 24.93 in the 200-meter dash (13th).

Today’s heptathlon events are the long jump, javelin and 800m.