Huskies Celebrate Season, Honor Seniors
June 03, 2015 | Track & Field
SEATTLE - Some coveted hardware remains up for grabs at the NCAA Outdoor Championships next week in Eugene, but the Husky track and field team gathered together for the final time to hand out some awards of its own on Tuesday evening in the Don James Center.
Head Coach Greg Metcalf spoke to the athletes, along with many family and friends, about the season that is coming to a close, and talked about each of Washington's graduating seniors. Metcalf then handed out several team awards that were chosen based on votes from the coaching staff.
Looking back to the fall, the team honored Maddie Meyers and Aaron Nelson as the Cross Country Athletes of the Year. Meyers and Nelson each earned All-America honors at the NCAA Championships last fall, Meyers finishing 27th overall for her first honor, and Nelson earning a second straight All-America award with a 21st-place finish.
Turning to the track, the Newcomers of the Year were Kennadi Bouyer on the women's side and Casey Burns on the men's side. Bouyer, a transfer from Ole Miss, went to No. 6 on the UW top-10 list at 100-meters, and No. 4 in the 60-meters indoors. She also took fifth at the Pac-12 Championships in the long jump with a mark of 19-11 3/4, the No. 7 mark in school history. Bouyer also was the second leg of the Husky 4x100m relay, which broke a 30-year old school record, took third at Pac-12s, and just missed a spot at NCAAs by one place. Burns was the Pac-12 runner-up in the triple jump this year with a remarkable breakthrough meet where he PR'd by more than two-and-a-half feet. He went 51-8 1/2 at Pac-12s, the second-best mark in school history, and finished in the top-20 at West Prelims.
Men's and women's Field Athlete of the Year honors went to pole vault champions Jax Thoirs and Kristina Owsinski. Thoirs took fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships, defended his Pac-12 title and raised his PR to 18-6 1/2 this season. Owsinski is enjoying a breakout year, clearing big PRs of 14-2 indoors and 14-2 1/2 outdoors. She won both the MPSF and Pac-12 Championship titles, placed ninth at the NCAA Indoor meet and is headed to her first NCAA Outdoor meet next week.
The Men's Track Athlete of the Year was junior Izaic Yorks, who is on his way to a second straight NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance in the 1,500-meters. Yorks broke the UW school record in the mile this year at 3:57.81. Outdoors, he won the Pac-12 title at 1,500-meters, the first Husky to win that since 1987. Yorks advanced through the first two prelim heats in Austin and will race in the NCAA semis next Wednesday.
Baylee Mires earned Women's Track Athlete of the Year honors. The junior has set new school records in the 800-meters both indoors and out, going 2:05.14 during the indoor season and 2:05.19 last week in Austin to make the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second time in her career. Mires also ran on the distance medley relay that took fifth at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and she also helped the 4x400m relay run a school record indoors.
Finally, Coach Metcalf gave out Team MVP honors to Maddie Meyers for the women's team and Chris Williams for the men's team.
Meyers has enjoyed a terrific 2014-15 year with another race to come next week as she runs the 5,000-meters at the NCAA Championships. Still just a redshirt sophomore on the track, Meyers anchored the distance medley relay to fifth-place at the NCAA Indoor meet, also qualifying in the 3,000-meters. She ran the No. 3 5k time in school history at the Stanford Invite, going 15:40.48. At the Pac-12 meet, Meyers earned two podium spots, taking third in the 1,500-meters in a big PR of 4:14.03, the No. 5 time in school history, and then taking third again in the 5,000m. She then advanced through the West Prelims in the 5k last week to earn her first NCAA Outdoor spot.
Chris Williams had another big impact year for the men's team, qualifying for NCAA West Prelims in three events, and scoring in all three at the Pac-12 meet as well. Williams was the runner-up in the Pac-12 pole vault for the second time, and took fourth in the 110m hurdles. He also led off the 4x100m relay that took third at Pac-12s and finished 18th at West Prelims. Williams broke the 14-second mark in the 110m hurdles for just the second and third times in the West Prelim heats, coming up just a couple places shy of a bid to NCAA Outdoors.
Washington's seven NCAA Outdoor competitors will head to Eugene next week for the final rounds. Men's competition goes next Wednesday and Friday, with the women competing on Thursday and Saturday.
Players Mentioned
