Vanessa Aniteye of Seattle Pacific won the women’s 800-meter national title on Saturday afternoon at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
The Falcon senior went back and forth with Helen Braybrook of Colorado State Pueblo, then took the lead at the bell lap and hung on to win by two-tenths of a second.
Aniteye’s time of 2 minutes, 6.84 seconds set the school indoor record. The previous mark of 2:07.52 was set by Lynelle Decker in a second-place finish at the 2016 NCAAs.
UW’s Houser wins national title in mile
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Washington men’s track and field team finished fourth at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships, its best finish since 1930. Luke Houser earned the NCAA title in the men’s mile as UW scored 20 of its 31 team points in that event.
Making headlines all season with their sub-four-minute exploits, Washington had four men in the mile final. Houser got to the line first in 4:03.33; Joe Waskom, the reigning NCAA outdoor 1,500 champion, was fourth in 4:03.73; Nathan Green was fifth in 4:03.86 and Brian Fay held on for eighth in 4:05.07.
“I was confident that the best miler in the NCAA was on our team, so I’m glad we showed it. I’m glad we backed up everything we’ve done this year,” said Houser.
UW softball wins
SilentRain Espinoza and Alana Johnson each drove in four runs as the host Washington softball team (19-4, 1-1 Pac-12) rolled to a 13-8 victory over Oregon (17-5, 1-1) to even their series at one game apiece. Espinoza went 3 for 4 with a homer and Johnson went 3 for 4 with two homers.
Baseball
• Sam DeCarlo smacked a walkoff solo home run in the ninth inning as host Washington (12-2, 2-0 Pac-12) earned a 4-3 win and clinched the series over Utah (6-8, 0-2). Stu Flesland III pitched seven strong innings with two runs allowed on four hits and a walk. Case Matter (2-0) got the win. UW extended its win streak to 11 games and its 12-2 start is its best since 1985.
• Starting pitcher Caden Kaelber worked a career-high seven innings and Greg Fuchs hit a go-ahead home run as Washington State (12-2, 1-1 Pac-12) evened the series at No. 15 Oregon State (11-3, 1-1 Pac-12) with a 6-3 victory.
• Kai Alberghini homered but Seattle University (2-10, 0-2 Western Athletic Conference) lost 12-2 in seven innings at Sam Houston (8-8, 2-0).
Softball
• Host Seattle University (18-5) won its fifth straight with a 2-1 victory against Montana (2-22) in eight innings when Katie Walling hit a sacrifice fly to right field to allow Brooke Milder to score. The Redhawks have won five straight and 11 of their past 13. Grace Luderer (5-1) scattered five hits over eight innings and struck out six.
Basketball
• The WNBA’s Atlanta Dream have signed 5-10 guard Mikayla Pivec from Lynnwood High School to a training camp contract. Pivec was drafted by the Atlanta Dream in the third round (25th overall) in the 2020 WNBA draft.
High schools
• Jenna Villa of Arlington High School is the 2022-23 Gatorade Washington Girls Basketball Player of the Year. At the time of her selection, the 6-foot-2 senior had led the Eagles to a 22-2 record and the Class 3A state semifinals while averaging 22.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.9 steals.
Hockey
• Jeremy Hanzel scored two goals and Thomas Milic made 14 saves as the host and U.S. Division champion Seattle Thunderbirds beat the Everett Silvertips 5-1.
Rugby
• The Seattle Seawolves (4-0-0) defeated the Houston SaberCats 24-12 at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila to become the only unbeaten team in Major League Rugby.