Washington men's squad records best team finish in Pac-12 since 1997...

LOS ANGELES—The University of Washington’s men’s team finished a surprising third place in the team competition at the Pac-12 track and field championships at Drake Stadium on the campus of UCLA Sunday, as they scored 84.5 to nose out the host school by 1.5 points.

Oregon won the men’s team title with 152, followed by USC’s 121.  Washington State was tenth with 31.5 points.

This was Washington's highest finish in the conference championships since 1997, when they finished third.

The Dawgs got a victory from Isaic Yorks (left/photo by Paul Merca) in the men’s 1500, who was up front for most of the race, then held off a late charge by Cal’s Thomas Joyce to win in a time of 3:46.42.

Washington got some unexpected top three finishes from its sprint corps and triple jumper Casey Burns.

Burns finished second with a leap of 51-8.5 (15.76m), to finish behind Seattle native Darian Brooks of Stanford, who repeated as conference champion with a jump of 52-0.5 (15.86m).

Both Washington relay teams finished third, as the 4 x 100m team of Lucas Strong, Quadelle Satterwhite, Jacopo Spano and Chris Williams ran 40.11, while the 4 x 400 team of Satterwhite, Spano, Drew Schreiber, and Andrew Brown ran 3:10.96.

Washington State’s Jesse Jorgensen found a crack between UCLA’s Nick Hartle and Arizona’s Collins Kibet in the final 50 meters to slip past both and win the 800 meters in a personal best 1:46.49.

Tacoma native Marcus Chambers won the men’s 400 in a personal best 45.21, and also had a hand in both relays for the Oregon Ducks, as he contributed 14.5 points of their winning 152 points.

Washington’s vaunted vault crew flexed its muscle on the women’s side, as Kristina Owsinski added the Pac-12 title to the indoor crown that she won earlier this season, clearing 14-2 (4.32m) to unseat teammate and defending champion Diamara Planell Cruz, who jumped 13-8.25 (4.17m).

The Huskies’ Liz Quick finished third at 13-6.25 (4.12m) to give the Dawgs a sweep of the podium, edging out Washington State’s 2012 champ Kristine Felix, who cleared 13-0.25 (3.97m).

Maddie Meyers of Washington earned a pair of third place finishes in the 1500 and 5000, running a personal best 4:14.03, and 16:09.58 in the longer race, after leading it for the first half.

The Washington women's 4 x 100 relay team of Haley Jacobson, Kennadi Bouyer, Gianna Woodruff, and Sierra Peterson broke a 30-year old school record, running 44.57 in finishing third behind USC's meet record 43.10, and Oregon's 43.65.

Oregon won the women’s team title by a 185-182 count over USC. Washington State was fifth with 64 points, while the Huskies was seventh with 63 points.

Complete results from the meet are available here.