Track & Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach, Distances
- Email:
- anitac2@uw.edu
- Phone:
- (206) 543-6644
Former Husky standout Anita Campbell has returned to her alma mater to help lead the Washington distance programs which she helped usher into the national spotlight. The 2017-18 season is Campbell's fourth as a Husky assistant.
Washington is the first college coaching stop for Campbell, who competed at Washington from the fall of 2005 until the spring of 2010. A two-time All-American, Campbell is a Husky Hall of Fame member as part of the 2008 women’s cross country team. She captured the 2009 Pac-10 title at 10,000-meters and went on to finish third at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that year.
During her first four years as an assistant, Campbell helped the Husky women's team reach the NCAA Cross Country Championships each year, placing 23rd in 2014, 10th in 2015, 12th in 2016, and 21st in 2017. Maddie Meyers ran to an individual eighth-place finish at the 2015 championships and Campbell helped Amy-Eloise Neale post back-to-back top-10 finishes, as she was eighth in 2016 and then the NCAA runner-up in 2017.
The men's cross country squad has also made NCAAs in three of Campbell's four years, with one of its best-ever NCAA finishes in 2016 as the Huskies were eighth led by All-American finishes from Izaic Yorks and Colby Gilbert. The men also were 20th in 2014 and 22nd in 2017.
Neale won the 2016 Pac-12 Cross Country Championship and was named Pac-12 Athlete of the Year, then carried her success over onto the track, where she was ninth in the NCAA Indoor mile final, and eighth in the NCAA Outdoor 1,500-meter final after running a PR of 4:11.00 in the semis. Junior Izzi Batt-Doyle also broke through to her first NCAA Outdoor appearance in 2016, finishing 12th in the 10,000-meters.
The Huskies have further displayed their distance dominance with top-five finishes in the distance medley relay at the 2015 and 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships. The Husky women finished fifth in 2015 and then both the men's and women's DMRs were national runners-up in 2016, anchored by Maddie Meyers and Izaic Yorks. Eleanor Fulton and Baylee Mires both earned First Team All-America status in 2016, Fulton taking eighth in the mile indoors, and Mires eighth in the 800-meters outdoors.
At the 2015 NCAA Outdoor meet, Katie Knight (10k), Charlotte Prouse (3k steeplechase), Anna Maxwell (1,500m) and Amy-Eloise Neale (1,500m) all earned All-America Second Team honors. Knight won her first Pac-12 title and set the meet record at 10,000-meters in 2015, the first Husky to win that event since Campbell in 2009, while Prouse, Maxwell, and Neale all were top-five in their Pac-12 finals.
No student-athlete had a better perspective for Washington’s rise to cross country prominence than Campbell. Her first two seasons she qualified for the NCAA Championships as an individual. As a junior in 2007 she was joined by the full team which finished a then-program-best eighth, as Campbell earned her first All-America honor. The next fall everything came together with an undefeated season, one for the history books.
Coach Greg Metcalf knew what Campbell brought to the table as an athlete and believed that would translate well to the coaching world.
“I am thrilled to bring Anita Campbell back into our program,” said Metcalf. “Anita helped set a standard of excellence at Washington, and the program improved every year she was on our campus. As a member of our 2008 national championship team she brings instant credibility. In her own words this is a dream job for Anita. She shares the same goals I do for our program; she wants to be a part of another NCAA title and help to build the next generation of Husky distance runners.”
Campbell made the NCAA Outdoor Championships all four years, and scored a total of 30 points at the Pac-10 Track Championships. She ranks in the UW top-10 in five events and was the indoor school record-holder in the 5,000-meters for three years. She was a two-time First Team All-Pac-10 honoree in cross country and one-time Second Teamer. Never placing lower than 11th at a West Regional meet, Campbell was a four-time All-West Region honoree.
A native of Vancouver, B.C., Campbell is married to another Husky standout, two-time NCAA 800-meter Champion Ryan Brown.
