Art Thiel's take on the Dawgs...

Here's sports columnist Art Thiel's take on the University of Washington women's cross country team, scheduled to be published in Wednesday's edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

"THE CELEBRATION WAS a little shy of the victory parade the city gave the Sonics in 1979 for winning the NBA championship.

Then again, the University of Washington women's cross country team isn't leaving town because the city failed to build luxury suites for fans to watch them run along the Burke-Gilman Trail.

A single bus -- no police escort -- brought the champs Tuesday to a tidy, damp salute in front of the Graves Building along Montlake Boulevard. The band, cheerleaders and a few dozen students, relatives and athletic staff members cheered in the light rain. Even football coach Tyrone Willingham showed his support, perhaps to jog his memory of how such things are supposed to look.

The salute was light on ticker tape.

But for Seattle sports lately, it was as good as it gets.

If you have cared enough to read this far, here's the takeaway point:

They came, they ran, they kicked national butt."

To read the full column, click here...

Incidentally, here's one of three parts of the CBS College Sports' coverage of the NCAA Cross Country Championships that was posted on YouTube (disclaimer--this clip may be gone by the time people get to it)...