Washington State University Athletics
Whelan, Williams Lead WSU Men at Pac-12 XC Champs
October 30, 2015 | Cross Country
COLFAX, Wash. -- John Whelan and Michael Williams' top 12 finishes led the Washington State men to a sixth place finish, and the Cougar women were 10th, Friday morning at the Pac-12 Championships at the Colfax Golf Club, hosted by Washington State University.
The No. 1-ranked Colorado men, the defending national champions, won their fifth consecutive team title with 46 points followed by No. 23 Stanford with 57, No. 3 Oregon 83, No. 20 Washington 96, No. 15 UCLA 127, Washington State 137, No. 21 California 167, Arizona State 218 and Arizona 271. Edward Cheserek, the defending national champion, won his third conference title, with a winning time of 23:06.3.
John Whelan, a junior from Etna, Calif., was the top WSU placer in the men's 8000m race, taking ninth place with a time of 23 minutes, 26.3 seconds. Michael Williams, a sophomore from Richland, Wash., placed 12th in a time of 23:29.2. The other Cougar men's scorers were Sam Levora (sophomore, Sandpoint, Idaho) 32nd (24:04.0), Chandler Teigen (freshman, Asotin, Wash.) 40th (24:24.1), and Jake Finney (freshman, Post Falls, Idaho) 46th (24:35.3). Other WSU men racing Friday and their places were: Nathan Wadhwani, 57th (24:56.1), Nathan Tadesse, 70th (25:18.9), and Kyler Litte, 75th (25:56.6).
“Coach Phipps and I were talking last night and we felt top 10 was a realistic finish and that's what I was shooting for contribute to the team today,” Whelan said. “My overall fitness and training has been so much better this year, as it should be as you progress through a career. I came in really confident, especially having this as our home course that we have so much experience on and surrounded by teammates and fans always help too. The next goal is place similarly in the top 10 or top 15 at the NCAA Regional and help with that low score and help get our team to the NCAA Championships.”
“We were looking for big performances from John and Michael and they absolutely did not disappoint,” WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Wayne Phipps said. “Last night John and I talked about him finishing in the top 10 and for him to get ninth is absolutely amazing. For Michael Williams, who wasn't in our top seven last year, to finish 12th today is amazing. We were relying on our freshmen and that can be a good thing or a bad thing sometimes. It is great experience and I thought they performed well.”
The No. 3-ranked Colorado women won the team title with 45 points followed closely by No. 5 Oregon with 51, No. 10 Stanford 80, No. 12 Washington 92, No. 19 Utah 149, Arizona State 162, California 204, Arizona 237, UCLA 262, Oregon State 321, and USC 361. Stanford's Aisling Cuffe, the 2013 individual winner, won the individual title with a 6,000m time of 19:53.1.
WSU senior CharLee Linton (Shoreline, Wash.) was the top Cougar finisher at 36th in a time of 20:51.5. Other WSU women scoring were Devon Bortfeld (sophomore, Sammamish, Wash.) 49th (21:08.3), Morgan Willson (junior, Colfax, Wash.) 54th (21:14.6), Steffie Pavey (junior, Oldtown, Idaho) 74th (21:51.2), and Emily Dwyer (senior, Sammamish, Wash.) 85th (22:09.0). Other Cougar women competing Friday were Katherine Dittmann, 88th (22:13.9), Anisa Allaet, 89th (22:16.8), Alexys Garcia, 93rd (22:34.1), Amanda Henderson, 94th (22:41.8), and Josie Brown, 102nd (23:13.0).
“The women were a little behind where we wanted to be today,” Phipps said. “CharLee was pretty sick going into this race and being the trooper that she is, she gutted it out and ran really well. Her being shifted back (in the field) set the tone for our women's team and given that resulted in us being a couple of spots lower than we had hoped.”
The next competition for the WSU harriers is the NCAA West Regional, Nov. 13, at Jefferson Park Golf Course in Seattle.
Players Mentioned
