Life without a conference: Washington State track and field gets taste of ‘real competition’ at MPSF indoor championships

The old college try means a little more when your college can actually keep score.

When money, television and deceit took a wrecking ball to the Pacific-12 Conference last year, track and field was the sport at Washington State most left adrift. Football could still find its way to bowl games. Basketball and other sports were welcomed to compete for trophies in the West Coast Conference. Even the swimmers have dogpaddled into a championship meet this weekend as guests of the Mountain West Conference.

But track will have no conference destination at the end of its season come spring – so the Cougars are more than thankful for their seat at the table of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships at the Podium. They’re also eating pretty well – the men forging a slim lead after Friday’s first seven finals, and the women winning a pair of events.

“We love it – it’s so exciting to have real competition like this and we’re thankful they welcomed us in,” said sprinter Brooke Lyons, who finished second in the women’s 200 meters in a lifetime best 23.77 seconds.

“It’s nice when you get to keep score. You’re not just running for your time like most meets, you’re running for your team. And there’s so much more energy.”

For more than 30 years, the MPSF has provided a safe haven for West Coast teams whose primary conferences didn’t sanction championships in sports like indoor track, men’s volleyball and water polo. The Cougars were members up through 2021, when all the Pac-12 schools bailed.

“This gives our team a chance to have that championship experience they’re not going to get in the spring,” WSU coach Wayne Phipps said.

They didn’t take long to make it a championship experience. Gavin Dimick and Seth Nelson got things started with a 1-2 finish in the pole vault, Dimick soaring over 17 feet for the first time with a clearance of 17-3/4 .

Soon after, sprint sensation Grant Buckmiller took down the 24-year-old meet record in the men’s 200 held by Washington great Ja’Warren Hooker – and the school indoor record that was a decade older – with a 20.72 clocking. It took a stirring run from lane six on the Podium track’s upper rail, after Cal State Northridge’s Chase Mars had made up the stagger.

“I’ve been struggling to break 21 for so long it’s such a relief,” said Buckmiller, a sophomore from Lake Stevens, Washington, who this winter has claimed school records at 200, 300 and 400 meters. “I felt I could hear (Mars) a little all the way around and then on the home stretch he peaked into my line of sight, so it was important not to panic and keep executing.”

That was a nice bounce back for the Cougs after a catastrophe in the previous race.

Phipps’ new Kenyan distance find Evans Kurui put the hammer down on the 5,000-meter field, lapping every runner barely halfway through the race at a pace that would have broken the meet record. He eased up to finish in 13:47.51, still more than 200 meters ahead. But two laps from the finish, he lost his balance on the north curve and took a couple of steps on the infield, and was disqualified.

“Nothing in that race went to plan,” Phipps said. “We really didn’t want him going out that fast and obviously didn’t want to see him disqualified. But that’s a good lesson about running indoors, with banked tracks and the congestion of runners in tight spaces.”

It cost WSU nine points – teammate Josephat Meli got bumped up a spot in the finish – and cut the Cougars’ lead to 52-45 over Long Beach State. It could have been a couple of more, but high jumper AJ McGloflin – a Central Valley grad – missed out on the top step of the podium despite clearing 7 feet for the third straight meet, Long Beach’s Kyle Jankans winning on fewer misses.

The Cougars women, 10 points out of first in fourth place, made their noise late.

Pole vaulter Tatum Moku, who has twice broken the school indoor record this winter, didn’t quite get there again, with a couple of close misses at 14-71/2 after clearing the bar 4 inches lower.

“It’s been a great season,” said Moku, a sophomore from Hawaii. “I’ve PRed almost a foot from where I left off from outdoor season last year.

“I kind of had to redeem myself from last year – it was a roller coaster, and the culture shock and adjustment were insane. I’m just a lot more comfortable now.”

And perhaps the night’s best race, the Cougars won the women’s distance medley relay – Zenah Cheptoo making up 30 meters on Oregon State anchor Ainsley Herron, then holding her off for the final 41/2 laps.