WALNUT, CALIFORNIA, May 12-14—Washington won its first-ever team title after an impressive Husky sweep of the distance events helped build a total of 151 points, 14 more than USC (137). Coach Andy Powell told the Pac-12 Networks it was “a long time coming. When we took over 5 years ago, we told some of the freshmen that this was going to be our goal. Everyone believed it. It’s a super special day for everyone.”
Although the Huskies claimed a loop victory in the Pac-12’s predecessor Pacific Coast Conference way back in 1928, this was Washington’s first since the modern grouping began to take shape in 1960.
He added, “You can’t do it with a couple individuals, you have to have a great team.” The roll stared on Friday, when Husky senior Brian Fay captured the 10,000 on the kick from Stanford’s Charles Hicks in 28:24.90. The next day, transfer Ed Trippas delivered victory in the steeple in 8:37.26. Another 10 points came from decathlete Ollie Thorner (7761).
The Huskies finished with a torrent on points on Sunday. Sophomore Nathan Green captured the 1500 in 3:42.22 in a race where NCAA Indoor mile champ Luke Houser only finished 7th and NCAA 1500 champ Joe Waskom couldn’t get into the scoring. The deep Huskies still came away with 20 points.
Sam Ellis, another soph, won the 800 by more than a second at 1:46.77. Senior Cass Elliott dominated the 400H in 49.31. Finally, Irishman Fay returned with his second win, outkicking Stanford’s Cole Sprout and Ky Robinson at 5000 in 14:08.03.
In 2003 Stanford, like Washington this time, captured every Pac-12 distance title 800–10,000. Powell was a member of that Cardinal squad 20 years ago but was injured and did not race.
The top individual performance of the meet, however, went to Stanford’s soph sprinter Udodi Onwuzurike. He unleased a PR and collegiate list-leading 19.91 to capture the 200 from Arizona State’s Jeremiah Curry (20.15). That broke the meet record 20.00 set by UCLA’s Ato Boldon in ’96. It came after a close 100 finish saw Onwuzurike finish 0.01 behind the 10.22 of Oregon’s defending champion Micah Williams.
On the field, Cal’s Mykolas Alekna delivered as expected, crushing the discus field with his 231-0 (70.40), the No. 2 throw in collegiate history, behind his own record. Any of his five fair throws would have won…
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