UW Men Won Every Distance Race From 400 Hurdles To 10,000 Meters; Oregon Women Exceed Formchart With Points Stacking Up In 19 Of 21 Events

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Crash Kamon photos

WALNUT, Calif. – What does the end of a 95-year conference drought look like?

The face of Brian Fay of Washington, who won the 5,000 meters Sunday with the Pac-12 Conference men's crown still a jump ball between the Huskies and USC, carried as much of the pent up emotion as any at Mt. SAC's Hilmer Lodge Stadium. 

Fay was one of eight Washington runners who went to the starting line of the 5,000 meters, looking for every last point. Fay's victory was worth 10 points and Leo Daschbach dug out another point with eighth. 

It turned out the Huskies had plenty. The final score was 157 points for Washington, 137 for USC and Stanford was third with 96. 

"It's been a long time coming, but it's super special. It's a really great group of guys," Washington coach Andy Powell said. 

Oregon may have seen a 15-year streak of conference titles end on the men's side, but there was still plenty for Ducks the cheer about in the first year with Jerry Schumacher at the helm. 

The women's team scored in 19 of 21 events and broke open what was considered to be a close team race with 158.5 points. The Ducks won seven events, including six individual titles. 

"They out-performed our charts across the board in every area," Schumacher said after taking a glancing blow from a Gatorade bath. "It's a super job."

USC's women took a hit right off the bat, with a botched hand-off on the final exchange of the women's 4x100, but the team still scored 127 points – finishing well behind Oregon but far ahead of third-place Washington (85.5). 

Washington's total team effort included wins in every distance event from the 400 hurdles on up to 10,000 (including the decathlon 1,500). Fay doubled with his 5,000 following Friday night's 10,000 victory. Cass Elliott won the 400-meter hurdles, Sam Ellis won the 800, Nathan Green won the 1,500 and Ed Trippas won Saturday's 3,000-meter steeplechase. 

"You're never going to be a great distance runner without surrounding yourself with really good people and building a good culture and that's what we have," Fay said. 

Of course, it was long time coming to Washington, but the Powells, Andy and Maurica, the director of track and field, have been on the winning side of the Pac-12 meet more often than not since they were athletes at Stanford and then assistant coaches at Oregon.  

USC produced two of the most sensational performances in one of its signature events: the 400 meters. Freshman William Jones came on late and beat his teammate and defending Pac-12 champion Johnnie Blockburger to win in 44.65 seconds. Jones' previous best was 46.06. Blockburger also ran a personal best with 44.80. 

And Jan'Taijah Jones followed with a sensational performance in the women's final, running 50.44 seconds to lead a 1-2-3-5 effort for the Trojans.

Cal's Mykolas Alekna, the world silver medalist and world leader this year, broke his own Pac-12 meet record with a discus mark of 230-11 (70.40m). 

Stanford's Udodi Onwuzurike ran an NCAA-leading and Pac-12 meet record 19.91 seconds to win the 200 meters. His time broke Ato Boldon's meet record of 20.00 from 1996. 

Onwuzurike's win in the 200 meters came after he had been out-leaned by Oregon's Micah Williams in the 100 meters. Williams defended his Pac-12 title, running into a slight headwind, with 10.22 to Onwuzurike's 10.23.

Oregon State's Grace Fetherstonhaugh achieved a distance double, adding a victory in the 5,000 meters to the Saturday win she achieved in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Her victories are the first for the OSU women at the conference meet and the Beavers also got a second-place finish from Jade Whitfield in the discus. 

In a conference full of brand name distance programs, it was Oregon State and Utah that won a combined four women's distance events. Simone Plourde won the 1,500 meters for Utah in 4:09.48 and her teammate, Emily Venters, won the 10,000 on Friday. 

Stanford freshman Juliette Whittaker won the 800 meters in 2:01.19.