WALNUT, CALIFORNIA, May 12–14—Washington won its first-ever Pac-12 men’s 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 ’28, this was Washington’s first since the modern grouping began to take shape in ’60.
Powell 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 of points on Sunday. Soph Nathan Green captured the 1500 in 3:42.22 in a race where NCAA Indoor mile champ Luke Houser only finished 7th and reigning 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 ’03 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 with ample distance to spare.
Arizona’s Jordan Geist won the shot on Saturday with his 68-1 (20.75). The next day he threw 242-2 (73.82) to add 10 more points in the discus. Another notable performance came from USC soph Johnny Brackins, who leapt an all-conditions American collegiate leader in the long jump at 27-2¾w (8.30).
PAC-12 MEN’S RESULTS
(5/12—10K, HT, JT; 5/13—St, HJ, LJ, SP)
Teams: 1. Washington 151; 2. USC 137; 3. Stanford 96; 4. Cal 82; 5. Arizona 76; 6. Oregon 75; 7. Arizona State 66; 8. UCLA 54; 9. Colorado 42; 10. Washington State 40.
100(-1.1): 1. *Micah Williams (Or) 10.22; 2. **Udodi Onwuzurike’ (Stan-Ngr) 10.23; 3. Chris Borzor (USC) 10.34; 4. Brendon Stewart (USC) 10.4445.
200(0.9): 1. Onwuzurike’ 19.91 (CL) (=9, x C);
2. Jeremiah Curry (AzSt) 20.15; 3. *Trayvion White-Austin (Az) 20.44; 4. **Justin Robinson (AzSt) 20.47; 5. *Ashton Allen (USC) 20.59; 6. Matthew Okonkwo (USC) 20.62.
400: 1. ***William Jones (USC) 44.65; 2. *Johnnie Blockburger (USC) 44.80; 3. Robinson 45.09; 4. Dubem Nwachukwu (AzSt) 45.12; 5. *Myles Misener-Daley’ (UCLA-Can) 45.25; 6. *Gamali Felix’ (AzSt-Grn) 45.36; 7. *Cameron Reynolds (UCLA) 45.37.
800: 1. **Sam Ellis (Wa) 1:46.77; 2. Bobby Poynter (USC) 1:47.79; 3. **Matthew Erickson’ (Or-Can) 1:48.98; 4. ***Jai Dawson (UCLA) 1:49.70.
1500: 1. **Nathan Green (Wa) 3:42.22; 2. *Ky Robinson’ (Stan-Aus) 3:42.99; 3. Zach Stallings (WaSt) 3:44.34; 4. Aaron Ahl’ (Wa-Can) 3:44.67;… 11. *Joe Waskom (Wa) 3:54.37.
St: 1. Ed Trippas’ (Wa-Aus) 8:37.26; 2. *Peter Herold (UCLA) 8:42.24; 3. *Alex Slenning (Or) 8:44.69; 4. **Kelvin Limo’ (WaSt-Ken) 8:52.52.
5000: 1. Brian Fay’ (Wa-Ire) 14:08.03; 2. *Cole Sprout (Stan) 14:12.28; 3. Robinson’ 14:14.44; 4. *Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau (Stan) 14:14.58.
10,000: 1. Fay’ 28:24.90; 2. *Charles Hicks’ (Stan-GB) 28:25.12; 3. Beaudoin-Rousseau 28:43.98; 4. Charlie Sweeney (Co) 29:12.70.
110H(-1.3): 1. Omotade Ojora’ (USC-GB) 13.48; 2. **Johnny Brackins (USC) 13.75; 3. **Di’Niko Bates (Cal) 14.10.
400H: 1. Cass Elliott (Wa) 49.31; 2. *Jared McAlvey (WaSt) 50.23; 3. *Jonathan Birchman (Wa) 50.79; 4. **Matthew Wilkinson (Wa) 51.48.
4 x 100: 1. USC 39.05 (Brackins, Allen, Borzor, Blockburger); 2. Arizona State 39.11; 3. Oregon 39.30; 4. Arizona 39.31; 5. UCLA 39.72.
4 x 400: 1. Arizona State 3:01.57 (Felix’, Nwachukwu, Curry, Robinson); 2. UCLA 3:02.13 (3. USC 3:05.05; 4. Colorado 3:06.86.
Field Events
HJ: 1. ***Elias Gerald (USC) 6-11½ (2.12); 2. Dallas Wise (USC) 6-10¼ (2.09); 3. ***Kristjan Sigfinnsson’ (Az-Ice) 6-10¼.
PV: 1. *Skyler Magula (Cal) 17-11¼ (5.47); 2. Jacob Englar (Wa) 17-9¼ (5.42); 3. **Tyler Burns (Cal) 17-7¼ (5.37); 4. **Garrett Brown (Stan) 17-7¼.
LJ: 1. Brackins 27-2¾w (8.30) (a-c out AmCL) (26-1¾, 26-4¼, p, 26-3, 27-2¾w, 25-10¼) (7.97, 8.03, p, 8.00, 8.30w, 7.88);
2. ***Chrstyn John Stevenson (USC) 26-6¼w (8.08); 3. **Reinaldo Rodrigues’ (Az-Bra) 25-9½w (7.86); 4. **Prestin Artis (Wa) 25-2¾w (7.69).
TJ: 1. *Kevin Yang (Stan) 51-3¾ (15.64); 2. Dallas Wise (USC) 49-10½ (15.20); 3. **Tim Luebbert (Wa) 49-7 (15.11).
SP: 1. Jordan Geist (Az) 68-1 (20.75); 2. Turner Washington (AzSt) 66-9¼ (20.35); 3. *Zach Landa (Az) 64-5¼ (19.64); 4. Youssef Koudssi (Az) 63-11¾ (19.50).
DT: 1. **Mykolas Alekna’ (Cal-Lit) 231-0 (70.40) (x, 2 C) (226-5 [x, 2 C], f, 223-5 [x, 8 C], 231-0, 221-1, 227-11 [x, 3 C]) (69.03, f, 68.11, 70.40, 67.39, 69.47);
2. Washington 206-5 (62.92); 3. Elijah Mason (Wa) 202-8 (61.77); 4. Iffy Joyner (Cal) 198-3 (60.43).
HT: 1. Geist 242-2 (73.82); 2. **Nikolaos Polychroniou’ (USC-Gre) 233-0 (71.02); 3. *Ivar Moisander’ (Cal-Swe) 227-5 (69.32); 4. *Jayden White (Wa) 222-6 (67.82); 5. Max McKhann (Stan) 221-10 (67.62); 6. **Mason Strunk (Or) 220-10 (67.33).
JT: 1. *Jared O’Riley’ (Az-Can) 235-6 (71.79); 2. *Chandler Ault (Wa) 227-10 (69.45); 3. **Ty Hampton (Or) 225-10 (68.84); 4. Dalton Rasmussen (Or) 220-6 (67.20).
Dec(5/12-13): 1. *Oliver Thorner’ (Wa-GB) 7761; 2. ***Rafael Raap (Or) 7695; 3. *Bruno Comin Pescador’ (Wa-Spa) 7611; 4. **Jami Schlueter’ (Wa-GB) 7545.