Powell Named Coach Of The Year, Seven All-Pac-12

SEATTLE – Leading the Husky women’s cross country team to the first Pac-12 Championship for the program in fourteen years has earned Maurica Powell the Pac-12 Women’s Coach of the Year award. Powell, in her sixth season at Washington, has the Huskies up to No. 8 in the latest national rankings with their eyes now set on advancing to yet another national championships.
 
In addition to the Coach of the Year honor for Powell, the All-Pac-12 Teams were officially announced today, with seven Huskies earning the honor, three from the men’s team and four from the women’s team.
 
Luke Houser, Nathan Green, Sophie O’Sullivan, and Chloe Foerster all earned All-Pac-12 First Team distinction by placing in the top-seven at the Pac-12 Championships, held last Friday at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, Washington. Making the Second Team by virtue of placing in the 8-14 range are Evan Jenkins, Julia David-Smith, and India Weir.
 
Houser was the Pac-12 runner-up on the men’s side, with Green taking third, and Jenkins finishing 10^th overall. The UW men’s team took second-place behind Stanford, tying their best finish in 29 years, and just the second time since 1995 that the men have placed second at the conference meet, the previous time coming in 2018. It’s the first time ever that the Huskies had two men in the top-three.

Ran *&!@% Lights Out#Pac12Champions // #GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/weqBKn03H5

— Washington Track & Field and Cross Country (@UWTrack) October 30, 2023

 
Maurica Powell led the women’s team to the title despite having just four of their 10 women from the 2022 Pac-12 meet back on the starting line this season, and only three of their seven runners back from last year’s NCAA Championships. Washington edged fifth-ranked Stanford by just two points to take the trophy at the final Pac-12 race.
 
O’Sullivan improved from 13^th a year ago up to 6^th this season, while Foerster made a huge leap from 44^th last year to 7^th last week. David-Smith finished 10^th after having missed the 2022 season rehabbing a torn ACL. Weir, in 14^th-place, and the fifth Husky scorer, Tori Herman, in 21^st-place, transferred into the program this summer from Princeton and Kentucky, respectively.
 
On the men’s side, it’s the first All-Pac-12 honor for Houser and Green, both NCAA Track Champions, as well as Jenkins. Houser was 15^th at Pac-12s a year ago, rising to second this season. It was just the second cross country race ever for Green and his…