Men Take Second At Pac-12s Led By Hull’s Runner-Up

Friday, October 26

Stanford, CA

11:00 AM

University of Washington

Pac-12 Championships

October 26, 2018 | Cross Country

Complete Men's Results Complete Women's Results

By: UW Athletic Communications

STANFORD, Calif. – Sophomore Talon Hull turned in the best individual finish ever for a Washington men's runner at the Pac-12 Championships today at Stanford Golf Course, sprinting to the line to finish second by one stride, and the seventh-ranked Huskies also took second in the men's team battle for their best finish in twenty-four years.

The 16th-ranked Husky women's squad also raced to fourth today behind three top-10 teams as they fought through some adversity and inexperience for another solid performance.

The men were attempting to upset the defending champion and fourth-ranked Cardinal on their home course today and as part of that effort the Dawgs had a purple wall going at the front over the first thousand meters. Heading into the final 2k, the Huskies still had five in the top-20 as it turned into a battle between the Huskies and Cardinal. Washington had its sixth finisher across before Stanford's No. 5, but the Cardinal had three of the top-four to hold on for the win.

The individual battle was even more dramatic, as Hull threw it into high gear with 200-meters left to get a step on Stanford's Grant Fisher, the defending champion and one of the best kickers in the NCAA. Fisher responded and got back in front by a step, and held on to win by four-tenths of a second, 23:09.8 to the 23:10.2 of Hull.

Check out the amazing finish between Talon and defending Pac-12 champ Grant Fisher! ??????#GoHuskies // #UWXC pic.twitter.com/Z8zL8Kxqz8
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) October 26, 2018

No Husky men's runner had ever finished better than third at the Pac-12 Championships. The last time the Huskies finished second at the Pac-12 Championships was 1994. The Dawgs have only won the meet once, in 1993.

Stanford held on for the win with 44 points while the Huskies were second with 62. For the first time since Colorado joined the Pac-12, the Dawgs outran the eighth-ranked Buffaloes, who were third with 82 points. 11th-ranked Oregon was fourth with 93 points, the first time since 2005 that the Huskies beat the Ducks at Pac-12s.

Washington put eight runners in the top-27 today, all eight turning in the best Pac-12 finish of their careers. Senior Tanner Anderson was ninth and sophomore Tibebu Proctor was 14th. Junior Andrew Snyder was 17th and senior Fred Huxham capped the scoring in 20th. Gavin Parpart took 22nd, Julius Diehr was 26th and Mick Stanovsek was 27th.

"We wanted to make it an extremely hard race from the beginning," said Head Coach Andy Powell about the early push. "We sent people out in the front to push the pace along. They all ran extremely confident and aggressively and that helped knock out some of the other teams and the team score was going back and forth between Stanford and Washington. We probably had the best spread one through five and one through seven so again that shows the depth in the best conference in the country."

"In my eyes Stanford is a top-three team in the nation so that should give us a lot of confidence moving forward. Over 10k I think we can be extremely close to where they are at a national meet. Just need to keep getting better every day. We were a lot better than where we were two weeks ago. It was a really positive performance."

On the women's side, the Huskies were without one of their top runners in Kaitlyn Neal today, making it more of a challenge to try and pick off No. 1 Colorado, No. 3 Oregon, or No. 6 Stanford. But the Dawgs still were a very solid fourth-place today, with some freshmen showing signs of improvement.

Junior Katie Rainsberger once again led the Dawgs despite battling illness all week leading up to the race. She gritted out an 11th-place finish today in 20:04. Sophomore Allie Schadler was the second Dawg, taking 23rd, with senior Emily Hamlin finishing a career-best 29th. Junior Lilli Burdon made her season debut and was the fourth Husky finisher in 31st, just ahead of freshman Olivia O'Keeffe who was 32nd to round out the scoring. Redshirt freshman Shona McCulloch also had her best race of the season, as she was 40th.

"Definitely pleased with the effort," said Director Maurica Powell. "Our attitude and effort were on point. Fourth was realistically the best we could be today with Kaitlyn out but I thought they battled hard. Katie went in pretty sick and had to do the best she could. Lilli having her fist race was positive. The freshmen got better so it was a step in the right direction. Our spread was better than two weeks ago, we just have to keep grinding."

The next run for the Dawgs will be the West Regional Championships on Nov. 9 back in Sacramento. That will be the last hurdle to clear to make a return trip to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 17.

Washington Cross Country
Pac-12 Championships
October 26, 2018
Stanford, Calif. | Stanford Golf Course

Women's 6,000m
Team Standings: 1. Oregon 32; 2. Colorado 48; 3. Stanford 81; 4. Washington 123; 5. UCLA 158; 6. Oregon State 173; 7. Utah 191; 8. Washington State 249; 9. Arizona State 250; 10. Arizona 251; 11. California 277; 12. USC 376.
Individual Champion: Dani Jones, Colorado, 19:24.
Husky Competitors: 11. Katie Rainsberger 20:04; 23. Allie Schadler 20:36; 29. Emily Hamlin 20:47; 31. Lilli Burdon 20:54; 32. Olivia O'Keeffe 20:55; 40. Shona McCulloch 21:07; 59. Sarah Carter 21:32; 64. Kelly Makin 21:39; 78. Madison Heisterman 22:06.

Men's 8,000m
Team Standings: 1. Stanford 44; 2. Washington 62; 3. Colorado 82; 4. Oregon 93; 5. Washington State 123; 6. UCLA 145; 7. California 196; 8. Arizona 213; 9. Arizona State 241.
Individual Champion: Grant Fisher, Stanford, 23:09.
Husky Competitors: 2. Talon Hull 23:10; 9. Tanner Anderson 23:12; 14. Tibebu Proctor 23:22; 17. Andrew Snyder 23:27; 20. Fred Huxham 23:32; 22. Gavin Parpart 23:35; 26. Julius Diehr 23:40; 27. Mick Stanovsek 23:44; 45. Mahmoud Moussa 24:27; 53. Nate Beamer 24:39.