Women Win Final Pac-12 Championship At Home

2023 Pac-12 Cross Country Championships

Friday, Oct. 27 | University Place, Wash.

Chambers Creek Regional Park

The Dawgs went out on top. In its final Pac-12 Cross Country Championships, the Washington women’s team hoisted the trophy with a thrillingly tight home course victory this morning at Chambers Creek Regional Park. The 19^th-ranked Huskies edged out fifth-ranked Stanford by two points to win their fourth title in program history, the first since 2009, and the final one.
 
Washington’s men’s squad also had its best run of the season and matched its highest conference finish in 29 years, with a second-place effort, led by a 2-3 individual finish from Luke Houser and Nathan Green.
 

The three previous conference titles for the women came in 1989, 2008, and 2009. Since then the Huskies were runners-up on three occasions, but they pulled together to grab the conference crown for the first time under Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Maurica Powell.
 

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— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) October 27, 2023

 
“They were awesome today,” said Powell. “That was really fun and just a testament to their self-belief. They raced really well in our first meet, and we thought we could win the conference if we got a little better at a couple things. Then at our second meet we got a lot worse at a lot of things. We just made some mistakes that we corrected today. They did exactly what they needed to do. They were tough and competitive and once they realized they could win with a lap to go, nobody gave an inch the last part of the race.”
 
The Huskies had three women in the top-10, with Sophie O’Sullivan sixth, Chloe Foerster seventh, and Julia David-Smith in 10^th. Stanford had its top-two runners finish first and fifth, but UW’s fourth finish, India Weir in 14^th-place, came in ahead of Stanford’s No. 3 who placed 17^th. Tori Herman capped UW’s scoring in 21^st overall, and UW finished with 58 points, just ahead of the 60 points for the Cardinal.
 
The men’s race was also a battle between UW and 25^th-ranked Stanford, with the Cardinal edging out the Dawgs, 41 points to 50. Oregon was third with 60 points and 9^th-ranked Colorado was fourth with 81. It matches the best finish for UW under Head Coach Andy Powell, as the Dawgs…