University of Washington
Pac-12 Championships
Inspired Dawgs Match Best Finishes Ever At Pac-12s
May 16, 2016 | Track & Field
Complete Results
SEATTLE – A Pac-12 Championships at home only comes around every so often; in Washington's case it took nineteen years. But the Huskies made the most of their chance with the men and women both equaling the best finishes in program history, while UW added three more individual champions to finish with six for the weekend, also matching the Washington record.
All that was missing from the first ever Pac-12 Track Championships at Husky Track was some sun, but Washington gave the 2,111 fans in attendance today plenty of reasons to jump up and cheer to keep warm. The dynamic distance duo of Izaic Yorks and Colby Gilbert captured the 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter titles, respectively, and junior Elizabeth Quick added another Pac-12 women's pole vault title to UW's trophy case to build on Saturday's efforts, which saw victories from Aaron Nelson (3,000m steeplechase), Katie Knight (10,000m), and Jax Thoirs (pole vault).
The Husky men finished as the Pac-12 runners-up for just the second time in school history, the only other time coming in 1976 when the conference was the Pac-8. The men crushed the program's all-time points mark, scoring 122 points today, the first time UW ever scored over 100 at the conference meet. It wasn't quite enough to overcome Oregon, which won its ninth-straight men's title with 155.6 points, with UCLA third at 94.2
On the women's side, the Huskies finished fourth overall, also tying the best finish in school history, done previously in 1998, 1996, and 1995. The 82 points scored by the women was second-most ever after the 1998 squad which scored 94. Oregon got the win in the women's battle as well, scoring 185 points, with USC second at 111.5, and Stanford third with 90.
“It's the best combined finish we've ever had,” said Head Coach Greg Metcalf. “To host at home for the first time since 1997 on this crazy purple track, it was fun. We didn't have great weather, but the atmosphere was awesome.”
The men's distance group especially had unprecedented success this weekend, scoring a total of 60 points over the 800m, 1,500m, 5,000m, 10,000m, and 3,000m steeplechase. Gilbert's win in the 5,000-meters was the first ever for a Husky male in that event in the 57-year history of the meet, and Yorks now owns two of the three 1,500-meter titles in UW history on the men's side.
Gilbert's dramatic 5k win came in a school record time of 13:35.20, while Aaron Nelson ran the No. 3 fastest time in school history at 13:42.06 to take third, and redshirt freshman Fred Huxham went to No. 4 all-time with his 13:44.39 seventh-place finish, which also broke the UW freshman record. So three of the top-four 5k times in school history came in the same race this evening. Even more impressive, Gilbert's winning time was second-fastest since 1979 and fourth-fastest all-time, trailing only two times by the legendary Henry Rono in 1978 and 1979, and a 13:33.00 time by Arizona's Robert Cheseret in 2005.
“Our men's distance group is mostly homegrown Washington kids that feed off each other, and they trust and believe and are confident. We've never scored that many points in the 10k and 5k in this meet. Our distance group did a great job on both sides. The measuring stick in this conference across the board is incredible; it's not for the weak of heart. We had lots of wonderful young kids that (came through) for us this weekend.”
Yorks once again ran unafraid alone in the front from the very start of the 1,500-meter final, despite the target on his back as the defending champion and NCAA leader. Gilbert, running in the 1,500m final as well before returning later to win the 5k, moved up to second place with a lap to go and it looked for a moment that the Dawgs could go one-two. Gilbert got caught by the chase pack right towards the finish, but nobody would end up catching Yorks, who threw out his arms with a yell and pumped his fist after the gutsy wire-to-wire win in 3:39.14. Gilbert still clocked a huge 1,500-meter PR of 3:40.99 for sixth, the new No. 4 mark on the Husky top-10 list.
“This is my track and where I run all the time, went out there and ran wire to wire to send a message out there to the NCAA,” said Yorks. “It was a pleasure to be out there in front of all the fans and the alumni. We don't have big meets here very often so that was awesome to do.”
Quick became the third different Husky to win the women's pole vault title in the past three seasons, following the 2014 win by Diamara Planell Cruz and the 2015 title by Kristina Owsinski. After finishing third in each of those years, Quick took her turn and moved up to spots on the podium with a best clearance of 13-5 ¾ in damp and breezy conditions that made the event even more challenging than usual. After making 13-5 ¾ on one attempt, Quick passed all the way up to 14-5 ½, which would have been a new outdoor school record. She had two close attempts before running through the pit on her third, but was happy to get the win and keep UW's win streak going.
This is the third straight season that the Dawgs have swept the men's and women's pole vault titles, as Jax Thoirs won Saturday for his third in a row. It was not just a one-woman show in the women's vault, however, as sophomore Kaitlin Zinsli got on a roll with six consecutive first attempt makes, the last coming at 12-10, to earn runner-up honors and stand next to Quick on the podium.
The Huskies had two more podium finishes today. Senior Baylee Mires broke her own 800-meter school record once again, and cut a full second off it in her final home appearance, as she finished third in 2:03.91. It was the four-time All-American's best ever finish at the Pac-12 Championships.
One of the biggest boosts on the men's side came from sophomore Carson Murray in the high jump. Seeded just seventh going into the meet, Murray survived a third-attempt at 6-9 ¾, and then jumped two straight season-bests, the last one at 7-0 ½ to get third-place hardware and six big team points.
After his commanding win in the 1,500-meters, Yorks returned to the track just over an hour later for his fourth race in two days, the 800-meter final. He was joined by senior Derrick Daigre, and it was Daigre who decided to make a charge, as he took the lead immediately and kicked into gear without looking back to try and take the talented field by surprise and win his second Pac-12 title. Feeding off the crowd, Daigre, who was the eighth qualifier to the final, nearly pulled it off, but tied up late and was caught by the field. Yorks came on strong late but came up a few strides short of another title. He finished fourth in 1:48.00, while Daigre was sixth in 1:49.03.
The first point scorer today was sophomore Onyie Chibuogwu in the women's hammer, as she earned her first Pac-12 points with a fifth-place finish, throwing 187-8.
Senior triple jumpers Jaleecia Roland and Savannah Burr also became Pac-12 point scorers for the first times in their careers at home today. Roland, who had finished ninth in the triple jump at all three of her previous Pac-12 meets, finally got that long-awaited point, finishing the much more satisfying eighth-place today with a 39-foot, 4-inch jump. One spot up, by just a half inch, was Burr, who continued her major breakout final season with a seventh-place finish and two team points.
In the men's triple jump, sophomore Casey Burns scored for the second straight year, finishing seventh today with a best of 49-4 ½ on his fifth round attempt. Sophomore Jack Lembcke was 11th in the men's discus with a best of 163-1, and senior Frank Catelli was 14th at 161-3.
The men's 4x100m relay got a fifth-place finish early in the day as Andrew Brown, Chris Williams, Quadelle Satterwhite, and Travis Marshall ran 40.53. Williams and Satterwhite would both come back to score again later in the day. Williams, who was fourth in the pole vault yesterday, took fifth in the 110m hurdles final in 14.27 seconds, while sophomore Eric Simpson scored his first point with an eighth-place finish in 14.60. Satterwhite placed in the 200-meter final for the second year in a row. The senior was eighth with a time of 21.81 seconds into a slight headwind. Another two points came from freshman Ryan Croson in the men's 400-meter final. Croson had a tough lane one assignment, but still toughed out a seventh-place finish in 48.26.
Junior Kennadi Bouyer became the first Husky woman to score in the Pac-12 100-meter final since 2011, as she finished eighth in 11.74 seconds. She then came back and took seventh in the 200-meters in 23.92. Seniors Naivasha Sophusson Smith and Kimberly Stueckle also tacked on a combined five points in the women's 100m hurdles final. Sophusson Smith scored for the first time in her career with a sixth-place finish in 13.96, while Stueckle scored for the second straight year, taking seventh in 14.10, a great way to cap a senior season that only got started in the spring due to a broken foot she suffered in the fall.
Just a few weeks after running the No. 3 4x400-meter time in school history at the UW-WSU Dual, the women's quartet of Hannah Derby, Alexis Ford, Carolyn Birkenfeld, and Baylee Mires stepped up into the No. 2 spot with a time of 3:38.88 to close out the women's meet. The four won their heat by nearly three seconds, though four teams would run faster in the second section, bumping the Huskies to fifth overall.
The men's 4x4 would score the final two points of the weekend for the Dawgs, taking seventh in a time of 3:12.89. The group included Satterwhite, Daigre, Andrew Brown, and Croson.
The women's distance crew capped off a fantastic weekend of its own with big points in the 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter finals. In the 1,500-meters, sophomore Anna Maxwell set much of the pace and made a run for the win on the backstretch of the bell lap. She was just edged out down the stretch but still finished a very strong fourth in 4:19.01. Right behind Maxwell, finishing very strong, was Amy-Eloise Neale, fifth in a time of 4:19.37. It was the first Pac-12 meet for Neale and first final for Maxwell.
In the 5k, sophomore Izzi Batt-Doyle led much of the early part of the race in her Pac-12 debut. Maxwell and Maddie Meyers, who was ninth in the 1,500m final, both began to move up the long line of 30 runners over the last mile. Maxwell found she had a ton left in the tank late and made a huge sprint over the final lap to go from a distant seventh to nearly catching the leaders down the homestretch. She crossed in fifth-place in 16:18.15, giving her nine total points on the day. Meyers placed seventh in 16:20.85 while Batt-Doyle got her first point in eighth-place in 16:23.11.
Washington's six individual victories on the weekend is the most in team history since the women joined the mix in 1987. The four wins for the men is second-most in school history, behind only the six titles won by the 1976 squad that was the only other Husky team to finish second overall.
Players Mentioned
