NCAA West Regional T&F: WSU men’s 4x100 relay breaks school record as sprinter Mason Lawyer qualifies in three events

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The men’s competition continued Friday at the NCAA West Regional track and field championships. The top 12 competitors in each event continue to the NCAA Championships in Eugene.

The Washington State 4x100 meter relay team earned a championship berth and broke a 34-year-old school record in the process.

The Cougars placed seven in a program-best 39.09 seconds. The team of Bryson Stubblefield, Mason Lawyer, Parker Duskin and Keenan Kuntz was 0.11 seconds behind first-place finisher Texas.

The Cougars previous record of 39.24 was set in 1991. This year’s team will try to be the first since 2011 to become All-Americans.

Lawyer’s day wasn’t done there. He went on to run a wind-assisted career-best 9.95 in the 100, good for fourth place, and finished 10th in the 200 (20.34) to qualify for his third event in Eugene.

• WSU’s Evans Kurui was one-hundredth of a second from a second berth in the championships with a 13th-place finish in the 5,000. His mark of 13:34.89 was edged by Texas Tech’s Ernest Cheruiyot. Gonzaga’s Wil Smith, a Lewis and Clark graduate, placed 34th (14:03.67).

Kurui will run the 10,000 in Eugene, after qualifying on Wednesday.

• WSU’s Kelvin Limo missed qualification with a 13th-place finish in the 3,000 steeplechase at 8:40.99. Gonzaga had three runners behind with Paul Talens (24th, 8:56.98), Cooper Laird (41st, 9:19.04) and Sean Janecko (45th, 9:25.26).

• WSU’s John Paredes placed 18th in the 110 hurdles (13.76).

• WSU had two competitors fail to qualify in the discus with Kai Twaddle-Dunham in 26th place at 182 feet, 9 inches, followed by Maxwell Moore in 35th (178-9). 

• WSU’s Eli Lawrence placed 33rd in the triple jump at 49-8½.

• WSU’s AJ McGloflin placed 30th in the high jump at 6-10¼. Teammate Antoni Smith did not complete a jump.