Seattle, Wash. – Tianna Wills set a career-best and a new school record in the high jump on Saturday at the Husky Classic hosted by Washington. The mark of 1.85m (6' 0.75") was good enough for second in her flight, coming in just behind last year's Division II national champion. The 1.85 mark qualifies her for the USA Championships which will be held next weekend.

"The high jump was a DII Nationals preview of sorts with the top three ranked women in DII going head-to-head," said interim head coach Tom Lyons. "Tiana looked great in warm-ups sailing over 1.70m (5' 7") with ease. I could tell it as going to be a great day for her."

After two misses at 1.85 she made a minor adjustment in her approach, which enabled her to clear the bar on her third and final attempt, in doing so she set a new personal-best and set the school record, breaking her own mark that was set in 2013.

"(Barbara) Szabo wound up clearing 1.91m (6' 3.25") to win," added Lyons. "But Tiana edged Susan Jackson of Western State for second place when Jackson failed to clear 1.85m."

Szabo has won the past three DII indoor national championships and also last year's outdoor championships. Wills was 3rd in last year's indoor and 2nd in last year's outdoor meet. Today marked the last official day an athlete could qualify for the USA Championships, to do that Wills needed to pass the mark of 1.81 which she did easily when she eclipsed 1.82 and again at 1.85.

It felt great to jump against the two women from Western State because they are going to be at nationals," said Tiana Wills. "It's good to get a chance to compete against women who can jump as high, and higher, than me. I am happy to set a new PR, but I wasn't focused on that, I was just there competing to win."

Also competing at the Husky Classic was Maya Cabiness who competed in the 200m on Friday, she finished second in her section and 17^th overall with a time of 25.40. On Saturday, Cabiness also competed in the 60 hurdles where she finished fourth in her heat with a time of 8.90 seconds. Anna Lee McGregor competed in the 400m race; she finished first in her section and 17^th overall with a time of 57.65.

Maya, Anna Lee and Tiana have had great indoor season with top national marks," said Lyons. "They've worked hard and have developed into very accomplished track and field athletes."

The Gators will return to action on Monday, February 17 when they will travel to Fresno, Calif., to compete in the Run for the Dream hosted by Fresno State at the Save Mart Center.

Link to Complete Results