University of Washington
Pac-10 Championships
Husky Women Step Up At Pac-10 Championships
October 30, 2010 | Cross Country
Oct. 30, 2010
2010 Pac-10 Championships - Jefferson Park Golf Course - Seattle, Wash.
Women's Results | Men's Results
SEATTLE - The first Pac-10 Cross Country Championships in Seattle in 10 years was a memorable one, as the 20th-ranked Husky women's cross country team made a big statement that they are moving back into contender status, tying 2nd-ranked Oregon for third overall in the closest finish in conference history.
Held at the Jefferson Park Golf Course, the first time cross country has ever been run there, the women's race delivered all the drama that the few thousand fans in attendance had hoped to see. Despite being two-time defending Pac-10 Champs, the Huskies were ranked 20th coming in and hoping to pull an upset against No. 2 Oregon, No. 6 Arizona, and No. 9 Stanford. It turned out to be the Cardinal squeaking out the upset victory with 62 points. Arizona was barely behind with 65 points, and the Ducks and Huskies were right behind them with 68 points apiece.
The three-point winning margin was the smallest in Pac-10 history, and only three times in the previous 24 years has the gap between first and second been less than six points, let alone the gap separating four teams at the top.
Freshman Katie Flood (Des Moines, Iowa) took another huge step in just the second official race of her college career, placing sixth overall to lead the Husky women over the 6,000-meter course in a time of 20-minutes and 13-seconds. Flood had a late start to her season, coming off a stress fracture over the summer at the end of her All-American prep career, but has quickly made up for lost time, after competing for the first time just two weeks ago at Pre-Nationals where she was 23rd.
Senior Mel Lawrence (Reno, Nev.) earned her third-straight Pac-10 Top-10 finish, taking 10th overall in 20:22. The two-time All-American continues to improve as she comes back from injury herself. The breakout performance of the day, even with Flood's efforts, may have been redshirt freshman Justine Johnson, who looked like a season veteran in her first Pac-10 run, taking 15th overall. It's the first time the Victoria, B.C. native has run in UW's top-five, and gave the Huskies a huge boost.
Running fourth for UW was senior Kailey Campbell. The Ballard High product got to run in front of the hometown fans for one last time, and ran very well with an 18th-place finish. Closing out the scoring was junior Christine Babcock (Irvine, Calif.), back on the starting line for Washington for the first time since the 2009 NCAA Cross Country meet. The two-time All-American is still on the way back from a lengthy foot issue, but wanted to run today for the team's seniors, and came in just behind Campbell in 19th-place.
"Our women came here and delivered a championship-style effort," said head coach Greg Metcalf, two-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year. "Our seniors, Mel Lawrence and Kailey Campbell, they have set a new standard, and they ran great today, and then you had true freshman Katie Flood and redshirt freshman Justine Johnson taking up that challenge and putting out great efforts today. Then Christine obviously is underraced and undertrained, but her decision to run instantly made our team better."
"I told our team that the next three weeks just got a whole lot more fun. Going towards Terre Haute, I think our team has as much opportunity as anyone in the country to build momentum and really be good when it matters on November 22."
 Rob Webster Jr. had the best race of his Husky career today, placing 27th.  |
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The men's 8,000-meter run followed, and the No. 1-ranked Stanford Cardinal joined their female counterparts on the podium, but in much less dramatic fashion. Stanford rolled to the win with 25 points, ahead of third-ranked Oregon which scored 56 and 22nd-ranked Cal which scored 86. Washington placed seventh overall with 181 points. Stanford also won the men's and women's titles back in 2000, the last time Washington hosted the meet.
For the first time in his career, sophomore Rob Webster Jr. led the Huskies on the grass, as the Puyallup native placed 27th overall in a time of 24:15. That was up 17 spots from his Pac-10 finish a year ago. Washington's top-three finishers were all sophomores, as Michael Miller was the fourth Husky across in 43rd-place in 24:43. Junior Cameron Quackenbush capped the scoring with a 48th-place finish.
"For Robby Webster to go be 27th in our conference, this thing is loaded today and he did a great job," said Metcalf. "That's the best race of his career and I'm excited about what this means for his future. We talked to our team about building momentum to the future, not just two weeks from now but a year from now, we have to be better. I thought we put out a solid effort, and I think it bode well for the future."
The Huskies will look to continue their progress with NCAA West Regionals on the horizon in two weeks time. Oregon hosts Regionals at the Springfield Country Club on November 13, nine days ahead of the NCAA Championships.
Players Mentioned
