NCAA Track | Cougars' Jeshua Anderson wins hurdles crown

DES MOINES, Iowa — Washington State freshman Jeshua Anderson charged from behind to edge Rueben McCoy of Auburn and win the men's 400-meter hurdles Friday night at the NCAA championships.

Anderson, from Woodland Hills, Calif., ran a lifetime-best and school-record time of 48.69 seconds to beat McCoy by 0.12 seconds.

"This is a blessing," Anderson said. "I set my goals high and for my collegiate year I accomplished what I wanted to, and that was to be a champion at the NCAA championships."

Anderson's time was the fifth-fastest this year by an American man, and the third-best by a collegian. It also surpassed the U.S. Olympic trials "A" standard.

Washington picked up a runner-up finish in the men's pole vault, with Jared O'Connor finishing in a three-way tie with a clearance of 17 feet, 2 ¾ inches. Texas freshman Maston Wallace won with a leap of 17-6 ½, the lowest winning vault since 1979.

Trinidad had a big night at the NCAA championships.

Richard Thompson and Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Louisiana State seniors from the small Caribbean nation, won the men's and women's 100 meters.

Thompson eased to victory in 10.12, followed by Travis Padgett at 10.16. Defending champion Walter Dix of Florida State got off to a bad start and wound up fourth at 10.22.

"He has been there since my freshman year," Thompson said of Dix, "and knowing he was going to be around for four years I wondered how am I ever going to win an NCAA championship."

Dix, who again will face Thompson today in the 200 finals, said a restart because of a problem with the starting blocks did not cause his poor start.

"A couple of guys were better than me," he said. "They just worked harder."

Baptiste earned her long-awaited NCAA 100 crown, bursting ahead over the last 40 meters to win in 11.20.

The races gave both LSU teams a boost in the team race. The Tigers scored 16 points in the men's 100 and 13 in the women's race.

The LSU women also got a victory in the 400 hurdles, with Nickiesha Wilson edging defending champion Nicole Leach of UCLA in 54.45.

Florida State led in its bid for a third straight men's team title with 32 points. LSU was second with 31.

Defending women's champion Arizona State led with 36 points. LSU had 31 and Stanford 21.

Washington got All-American finishes from Norris Frederick (men's high jump, 7-1 ½, seventh) and Carl Moe (3,000 steeplechase, lifetime-best 8:41.83, eighth).

The Cougars' McKenzie Garberg posted two All-American results Friday, finishing fifth in the women's discus (174-10) and sixth in the women's hammer (210-3). WSU's Trent Arrivey also earned All-American honors (men's high jump, 7-0 ¼, ninth).

The information in this article, originally published June 14, 2008, was corrected June 22, 2008. A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that Washington State University's Ebba Jungmark received All-American honors in the women's high jump at the NCAA track championships. The honor is conferred to the top eight American finishers in each event; Jungmark, a native of Sweden, finished ninth.