COLLEGE ROUNDUP: WSU freshman Kurui shatters school indoor 5K record

COLLEGE ROUNDUP

Freshman Evans Kurui broke Washington State’s 49-year-old 5,000-meter indoor record in Seattle while sophomore Grant Buckmiller lowered his own school mark in the 400 in South Carolina to highlight the Cougars’ coast-to-coast day across four venues nationally.

Kurui’s first-place finish in a personal-best time of 13 minutes, 17.16 seconds broke John Ngeno’s record set in 1976 by nearly 17 seconds. Buckmiller’s 400 time of 46.20 seconds nosed past his own previous school record of 46.22.

Cougars were in action at the Husky Classic in Seattle, Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, S.C., Whitworth Invitational in Spokane and Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. At the last of those meets, Idaho’s Blossom Omogor won the women’s 400 in a time of 54.30.

All four meets continue today.

Two wins for Warriors

LA GRANDE, Ore. — Grace Osborne won the women’s weight throw with a personal-best mark of 46 feet, 2 inches while the Lewis-Clark State men’s distance medley relay finished first in a time of 10 minutes, 23.65 seconds to highlight the Warriors’ Day 1 at the Eastern Oregon Last Chance meet.

Competition continues today beginning at 10 a.m.

WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Lewis-Clark State 73, Oregon Tech 54

The Warriors disregarded rankings and cruised past No. 22 Oregon Tech at the P1FCU Activity Center to avenge a defeat from earlier in the season and start the final home weekend of their regular season with a bang.

Sitara Byrd led LC State (21-4, 15-4) in a complete performance with 15 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. She shot 9-for-18 from the field including 3-for-5 from 3-point range. Ellie Sander (11 points, four steals, three assists), Payton Hymas (nine points, five assists) and Mataya Green (nine points, eight boards) made major contributions in well-rounded showings of their own. Green reached the 500-career-rebound threshold in the course of the game.

“A truly fantastic win by our team tonight,” LCSC coach Caelyn Orlandi said. “I am just so extremely proud of who we are and how we are playing basketball right now. OIT is an extremely well balanced and tough team, and we knew we had to come into the game with great intensity and energy.”

OREGON TECH (19-5, 15-3)

Ramos 7-12 3-4 17, Schmerbach 4-12 2-2 11, Elquist 5-8 1-2 11, Anderson 1-6 3-4 5, K. Tull 0-3 0-0 0, M. Tull 4-8 0-0 8, Wright 1-3 0-2 2, Fealey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-53 9-14 54.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (21-4, 15-4)

Byrd 6-13 0-0 15, Sander 4-7 2-2 11, Hymas 2-8 5-6 9, Green 4-8 1-2 9, Herring 3-5 2-4 8, Wilson 4-5 0-0 8, Brager 2-4 0-0 5, Beardin 2-5 0-0 5, Barger 1-1 1-2 3, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0, Wallace 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-56 11-18 73.

Oregon Tech 10 14 18 12—54

Lewis-Clark State 22 18 18 15—73

3-point goals — OIT 1-13 (Schmerbach 1-5, Elquist 0-1, Anderson 0-4, K. Tull 0-2, Fealey 0-1), LCSC 6-11 (Byrd 3-5, Sander 1-2, Brager 1-2, Beardin 1-2). Assists — OIT 16 (Schmerbach 5), LCSC 15 (Hymas 5). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — OIT 28 (Elquist 8), LCSC 36 (Green 8, Herring 8). Total fouls — OIT 16, LCSC 16. A — 754

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Lewis-Clark State 87, Oregon Tech 80

The Warriors found late separation and came out on top in a closely contested Cascade Conference showdown with visiting Oregon Tech at the P1FCU Activity Center.

Alton Hamilton led LC State (19-6, 14-5) with a double-double of 22 points and 14 rebounds. Colfax alum John Lustig had another big game with 20 points, seven boards and a team-high four assists. Kam Osborn of Oregon Tech (18-6, 14-4) led all scorers with 29 points.

LCSC is right back in action today facing Southern Oregon at 6 p.m. in the Activity Center.

OREGON TECH (18-6, 14-4)

Osborn 10-19 3-3 29, Guerra 5-12 0-0 11, Fraser 5-8 0-1 10, Shivers 2-9 4-4 8, Jensen 3-6 0-0 6, Reber 3-10 0-0 6, Cooper 3-7 0-0 6, Sucher 2-2 0-0 4, Elmore 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 33-74 7-8 80.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (19-6, 14-5)

Hamilton 10-14 2-5 22, Lustig 8-11 4-6 20, King 5-8 2-2 15, Morris 5-12 2-2 14, Skaife 2-5 1-2 6, Carpenter 2-6 0-0 6, Boykins 1-3 0-0 2, Salguero 1-2 0-0 2, Nordland 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-61 11-17 87.

Halftime — Tied 39-39. 3-point goals — OIT 7-22 (Osborn 6-9, Guerra 1-2, Shivers 0-5, Reber 0-3, Fraser 0-2, Elmore 0-1), LCSC 8-23 (King 3-5, Morris 2-6, Carpenter 2-6, Skaife 1-4, Hamilton 0-2). Rebounds — OIT 40 (Shivers 7), LCSC 35 (Hamilton 14). Assists — OIT 16 (Shivers 7), LCSC 16 (Lustig 4). Total fouls — OIT 18, LCSC 11. Fouled out — Jensen. Attendance — 638.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

Arkansas 3-14, Washington State 2-2

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Cougars opened the 2025 season with a doubleheader at fourth-ranked Arkansas, dropping a 10-inning defensive battle in Game 1 before falling in seven innings in Game 2.

Logan Johnstone blasted a solo home run for WSU (0-2) in the sixth inning of Game 1 for what was perhaps the Cougs’ highlight of the day. Johnstone would also notch a double in Game 2, giving him the Cougs’ only two extra-base hits in the twinbill.

In Game 2, Wazzu’s Jonah Shull recorded his first career hit, then followed it up with another.

The series continues with a single game today at 11 a.m. Pacific.

Arkansas 3, Washington State 2 (10)

Washington St. 000 001 000 1—2 6 2

Arkansas 000 001 000 2—3 6 2

Griffin Smith, Troy Shepard (6), Bryce Chambers (9), Trevor Stowe (10) and Will Cresswell; Gaeckle, McEntire (6), Coil (8), Foutch (9) and Helfrick. W — Foutch; L — Stowe.

WSU hits — Johnstone 2 (HR), Hartman, Skhonsby, Obenour, Watterson.

Arkansas hits — Davalan, Aloy, Maxwell, Iredale, Souza, Helfrick.

———

Arkansas 14, Washington State 2

Washington St. 000 101 0— 2 5 0

Arkansas 200 612 3—14 13 0

Nick Lewis, Ingmar Hutzezon (4), Miles Chandler (6) and Noah Thein, Kooper Jones; Root, Jimenez (6), McGuire (7) and Helfrick. — Root; L — Lewis.

WSU hits — Shull 2, Johnstone (2B), Myers, Jones.

Arkansas hits — Iredale 3 (2B), K. Aloy 2 (HR), Kozeal 2, Davalan 2, Peppi (2B), Boles, Helfrick, Thomas Jr.

WOMEN’S COLLEGE TENNIS

Washington 6, Washington State 1

SEATTLE — Eva Alvarez Sande pulled out a 6-2, 2-6, 10-7 victory in a deciding super-tiebreak at No. 1 singles and teamed with Maxine Murphy to notch a 6-2 doubles set win, but the Cougs dropped the rest of the day’s competition in a team dual against the Huskies at the Nordstrom Tennis Center.

WSU slipped to 7-3 on the season, while UW improved to 4-1.

Doubles — Eva Alvarez Sande/Maxine Murphy (WSU) def. Reece Carter/Alexia Jacobs 6-2; Erika Matsuda/Sophie Luescher (UW) def. Elyse Tse/Chisato Kanemaki 6-4; McKenna Koenig/Carina Syrtveit (UW) def. Hania Abouelsaad/Martina Markov 6-1.

Singles — Eva Alvarez Sande (WSU) def. Erika Matsuda 6-2, 2-6, 10-7; Reece Carter (UW) def. Maxine Murphy 6-2, 6-4; Alexia Jacobs (UW) def. Elyse Tse 6-4, 3-6, 10-5; McKenna Koenig (UW) def. Hania Abouelsaad 6-2, 7-6 (5); Sophie Luescher (UW) def. Martina Puvill 6-1, 6-4; Carina Syrtveit (UW) vs. Martina Markov 6-3, 2-0 DNF.

MEN’S COLLEGE GOLF

Lydra leads Cougs

LIHUE, Hawaii — Senior Franklin Lydra fired a 2-under par 68 to lead Washington State during the second round of the John Burns Intercollegiate at the par-70, 7,098-yard Ocean Course at Hokuala.

As a team, the Cougars improved by 12 strokes over Thursday’s opening round, shooting a 2-over 282, and now sit 14th overall.

Play concludes at the John Burns Intercollegiate with a final 18 holes beginning on a shotgun start today at 11 a.m. Pacific.