BOULDER, COLORADO, May 10–12 — Arizona State earned a special place in history when it won the 4×4 at Potts Field in 3:01.79. When anchor Gamali Felix crossed the line a few strides ahead of UCLA, the Wildcats became the last-ever Pac-12 track champions. After 105 years, the storied conference finally locked its doors and hung a “closed” sign in the window.
The ultimate team trophy went to Washington, after the Huskies won a tight battle with USC, 150–141. They were the only squads to score over 100 in the conference’s first high-altitude contest (1604m).
One of the beneficiaries of that thin air may have been USC senior Johnnie Blockburger, who was named the meet’s outstanding athlete after anchoring the winning 4×1 to a 38.84 win over Arizona (39.35), winning the 400 in 44.51 over UCLA’s Antonie Nortje (45.05), and capturing the 200 in 20.19w in a Trojan 1-2 with Max Thomas at 20.28. That 400 slashed his PR from the 44.71 he ran in Tucson in ’21.
But Blockburger’s heroics weren’t enough to hold off the Huskies. Washington, which won the trophy for the first time last year, captured it again with some key late-meet points in the 5000. After USC scored its 18 digits in the 200, the Huskies looked to build a little more cushion with some distance points, just in case the Trojans came through with a big 4×4. They got 5 more from Leo Daschbach and Evan Jenkins, which provided some breathing room though ultimately USC only placed 5th in the relay.
Said Husky men’s coach Andy Powell, “It was just a great team effort. It wasn’t necessarily the guys that won [events] that won this championship, it was all the 2nd-, 3rd-, 4th-, 5th-place finishers… It’s these guys. It’s the people… We’re certainly starting to catch fire, and I think our teams are just getting better and better.”
Key Washington wins came from Joe Waskom in the steeple at 9:03.66, Preston Artis in the long jump at 25-6¼ (7.78), and Chandler Ault’s PR 254-3 (77.51) in the javelin.
USC’s other wins came from hurdler Johnny Brackins in 13.52, high jumper Elias Gerald at 7-1¾ (2.18), and frosh Racquil Broderick in the discus with his 192-5 (58.65).
Oregon’s Elliott Cook pulled off a middle-distance double, taking the 1500 in a tactical 3:54.30 over Huskies Nathan Green (3:54.57), Luke Houser (3:54.78) and Waskom…
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