Fay Unleashes Huge Kick To Win Pac-12 10k Title

Friday, May 12

Walnut, CA

All Day

University of Washington

Pac-12 Championships

May 13, 2023 | Track & Field

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By: UW Athletic Communications

THIS WEEK IN HUSKY TRACK & FIELD

2023 Pac-12 Championships
May 12-14 | Walnut, Calif. | Hilmer Lodge Stadium

Event Schedule PDF | Pac-12 Homepage | Live Results

WALNUT, Calif. – After stalking the two-time defending 10k champion for 24 laps, Brian Fay finally attacked. And once the Irishman made his move, not even the NCAA cross country champion could keep up. Fay got the second Pac-12 track title of his career, and first in the 10k, in a thrilling upset of Stanford's Charles Hicks tonight, highlighting a great first day for Washington at the Pac-12 Championships.

With two days to go at Hilmer Lodge Stadium, the site of the annual Mt. SAC Relays, Washington racked up 32 points on the men's side and 16 on the women's side, leading in both, though with a long way to go. But today was indicative of an all-around consistent team effort that the teams want to continue.

The 10,000-meter finals were the first and only track finals tonight, but the battle between Fay and Hicks will be hard to top for the rest of the meet.

Too much Dawg for them.

If you wanted to watch the whole 28:24 ?? Spoiler Alert ??

Brian Fay is the first Husky men's 10,000-meter @pac12 Champion since 2001. #GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/tgh8OvXUxh
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) May 13, 2023

Fay, who last year won the Pac-12 steeplechase title, stayed up front from the start in a dwindling lead group that finally was reduced to just he and Hicks. As the 25th and final lap began, Fay moved past Hicks and began an all-out sprint for the final 400-meters. He opened up a five meter lead but coming around the final turn, Hicks closed the gap again and got within a step, but Fay had just enough to hold him off for the victory in 28:24.90. Hicks was second in 28:25.12.

Fay becomes the first Husky men's Pac-12 10k champ since 2001, when David Bazzi last won it. Leo Daschbach also earned his first conference points with a seventh-place finish in 29:58.04.

The women's 10k followed to conclude the night, and Husky Andrea Markezich had a stellar second-place run in 33:14.04 to grab some hardware. Markezich went from seventh in the 10k last year to runner-up tonight. Naomi Smith just missed scoring as she was ninth in 33:43.05.

Friday Field Finals
The first points of the meet came from a predictable source, as Jayden White earned a top-four finish for the third year in a row in the men's hammer throw. Fourth in 2021 and runner-up last year, White was fourth again today with a round four best of 222-6, which at the time moved him from seventh up to fourth. That was a key five points to get things going for the Dawgs.

Another solid points haul in the throws came next in the men's javelin. Chandler Ault took runner-up honors for the Dawgs today in his first Pac-12 Championships, as the Princeton transfer threw 227-10 to take second. Beating the form chart was Jack Olsen and Brady Gockel. The two came in seeded eighth and ninth but finished fifth and sixth. Olsen, just a redshirt freshman, went 216-6 and Gockel threw 204-6 for a new PR.

?? for Chandler Ault in the men's javelin!!

He goes 227-10 with this throw to secure his podium spot.#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/1RDzpgJPQE
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) May 12, 2023

The women's javelin followed, and just like the men, the Husky women had three of the eight point scorers. Heptathlete Ida Eikeng was fourth overall at 169-3, hanging around after she finished her four heptathlon events to add the open javelin to her workload. Junior Tanya Simora was seventh at 156-6, and freshman Saydi Orange was eighth in 155-10, both scoring in their first career Pac-12 Championships.

Kathleen Horn also had a season-best toss of 148-2 to finish 10th, as the Huskies got eight points out of the event.

Multis Leading The Way
Ida Eikeng started her heptathlon competition today with a huge PR in the 100-meter hurdles. Eikeng rolled to a 13.26, taking over a tenth off her PR, and improving her No. 3 mark in school history in that event. She then matched her outdoor best in the high jump, going 5-7 ¾.

Eikeng got her first event win in the shot put, throwing 47-2 ½, which moved her into first-place for the first time. She held onto the top spot in the 200-meters, taking second overall in a slightly wind-aided season-best time of 23.87. Eikeng finished day one with a stellar score of 3,778 points.

The Dawgs are chasing some big points in the decathlon, personally and in the team standings, as Bruno Comin Pescador, Jami Schluter, and Ollie Thorner all got going with the first five events.

The trio opened with stellar results in the 100-meters, going 1-3-4 overall. Jami Schlueter had a wind-aided PR of 10.70, while Thorner and Comin Pescador each ran times of 10.96, slightly wind-aided for Thorner but within the allowable limit for Comin Pescador out of a different heat.

Schlueter then won his second-straight event to start with a big 23-7 ¼ long jump mark, also wind-aided. Thorner flew past 23-feet with a wind-aided 23-0 ¾. Comin Pescador had two fouls to start and needed fair mark on his third, and he was able to get out to 22-2 ½ for seventh in that event.

Moving on to the shot put, the trio kept up the positive start. Comin Pescador led the way this time with a 46-4 ¼ best, while Schlueter had an outdoor best of 44-8 ¾, and Thorner went 43-0 ½. In the high jump, Thorner cleared 6-4 ¼, Comin Pescador was over 6-3 ¼, and Schlueter made 6-2.

Finishing the day, Comin Pescador posted the top time in the 400-meters in 49.49, with Thorner third-fastest at 49.65, and Schlueter running the best quarter-mile of his career in 50.01, nearly a half-second PR.

That ended the day with the Huskies in the top-three spots; Schlueter with 4,004 points, Thorner with 3,946, and Comin Pescador with 3,927.

Dawgs On Track In Prelims
Several prelims took place Friday, with Washington punching eleven finals tickets in the 1,500-meters and 400-meter hurdles.

In the men's 1,500-meters, UW put its mid-distance depth on display once again, as six Dawgs moved into the 12-man Sunday final. No other Pac-12 school will have more than one finalist.

Defending champion Joe Waskom advanced, as did last year's runner-up, Luke Houser. They'll be joined by Nathan Green, who had the overall fastest qualifying time of 3:43.07, Aidan Ryan, Aaron Ahl, and Will Laird.

In the women's 1,500-meters, Sophie O'Sullivan kicked to the victory in a loaded first heat, running a PR of 4:16.29 to reach her second-straight Pac-12 final. She'll be joined by Anna Gibson, who was third a year ago, and moved through with a second-place finish in her section. Madison Heisterman was bumped on her final lap and just missed the final by one spot, running 4:20.72, and Ella Borsheim was 17th overall in 4:25.68.

The Dawgs took care of business today in the 400m hurdles, as defending champion Cass Elliott, Matthew Wilkinson, and Jonathan Birchman ran three of the top-four prelim times to move on to the final. Elliott's time of 51.27 was best on the day.

Junior Anthony Smith placed 12th overall in the men's 200-meters prelim in 21.16. He'll be back on Sunday to run the relays for the Dawgs.