WSU's Ryan places eighth in 1,500 at NCAA national meet

Jun. 12—EUGENE, Ore. — It required a long, rigorous journey, but Paul Ryan is a national medalist. Just barely.

The Washington State senior distance runner from Moscow placed eighth in the men's 1,500-meter run Friday at the NCAA outdoor track meet at Hayward Field, his first top-8 national placing in six years as a Cougar.

Ryan gave the WSU men their first and only team point of the meet and was conferred the All-America status that goes with medaling.

He edged Talem Franco of Brigham Young by .11 of a second for the eighth and final spot, clocking 3 minutes, 40.50 seconds.

The winner of the race was Cole Hocker of Oregon in 3:35.35.

It's been six years since Ryan won a remarkable combination of events at the Idaho state high school meet — the 400, the 800, the 1,600 and the 3,200 — to lead the Logos Secondary boys to the Class 1A team title in 2015. Since then, he's struggled with injuries, and his top national placing before this race was a 20th in the mile at the NCAA indoor meet in March.

Colton Johnsen of WSU led the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase for five laps before fading. He finished last of the 12 finalists in 8:46.89.

The Cougars' Mitch Jacobson no-heighted in the men's high jump, missing three times at his opening height of 6 feet, 10 3/4 inches.

"It was an awesome season, and this group has been absolutely amazing," WSU coach Wayne Phipps said of his team. "Their commitment, dedication and performances have been awe-inspiring."

The women will take center stage today, with junior Charisma Taylor competing in the triple jump, sophomore Suzy Pace in the high jump and senior Stephanie Cho in the 400-meter hurdles.

MEN'S GOLFMoscow native hired at Auburn

AUBURN, Ala. — Former No. 1 amateur player in the world Chris Williams, a native of Moscow, has been hired as an assistant coach at Auburn, it was announced.

Williams, who spent 46 weeks as the top-ranked amateur, heads to the Tigers after spending the past two seasons as an assistant at Marquette.

"I'm very excited to be part of the successful golf program at Auburn and continue on the success that coach (Nick) Clinard has had during his tenure," Williams said in a statement. "I'm committed to helping the program continue to move in the right direction."

Williams was a four-time Class 4A state champion at Moscow as well as a four-time All-American at the University of Washington, where he won the Ben Hogan Award as the NCAA's top golfer in 2013. He spent time on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamerica after turning pro the same year, and he had competed in two U.S. Opens.