Washington sweeps Cougars in the Palouse for the second straight year...

PULLMAN—One year ago in Seattle, the conversation towards the end of The Dual between cross-state rivals Washington State and Washington centered on whether or not the Huskies could serve up a “Double Hundy Burger”.

At the end of the dual meet between the host Cougars and the Huskies on a windy, cloudy afternoon on the Palouse, the Hundy was the topic of conversation, with Washington up 95-63 in both the men’s and women’s competition with only the 4 x 400 remaining.

The Washington men’s team of Andrew Brown, Derrick Daigre, Michael Thomas, and Ryan Croson came oh-so-close, losing to the WSU team of Ray Littles, CJ Allen, Dino Dodig, and Matthew Swanson 3:12.13 to 3:12.28, as the Huskies took the victory by a 95-68 count.

Washington's Baylee Mires, Hannah Derby, Carolyn Birkenfeld
and Alexis Ford set a meet record of 3:39.30 in the 4 x 400 relay
(Paul Merca photo)

The Husky women finished up their end of the Hundy with emphasis, as the team of Hannah Derby, Alexis Ford, Carolyn Birkenfeld, and Baylee Mires won in a meet record 3:39.30 to make the final dual meet score 100-63, over the WSU squad of Regyn Gaffney, Dominique Keel, Holly DeHart, and Liz Harper, who ran 3:44.35, significantly slower than what they ran at Mt. SAC last week.

The Washington women’s squad was helped early in the meet when it was announced that the Cougars’ Alissa Brooks-Johnson, the reigning Pac-12 champ in the heptathlon, was out of the meet with a back injury that limited her at last week’s Mt. SAC Relays multi-event competition.  Brooks-Johnson was entered in both hurdles, and the javelin.

The Dawgs won every individual running event with the exception of the 100 and 400 hurdles, as the Cougars' Liz Harper won the double, running 13.80 in the short race to hold off the Huskies’ Naivasha Sophusson Smith (13.81), and easily winning the longer race in 59.80.  Harper also won the long jump with a best of 19-8.25 (6.00m) 

Washington got 1-2-3 finishes in the 800, led by Baylee Mires’ school record of 2:04.91, and in the 3000, as Anna Maxwell ran a very easy 9:35.20.  They also swept the pole vault led by Liz Quick (13-1.75/4.01m).  

The Cougars got their sweep in the high jump, led by Lateah Holmes (5-8.50/1.74m), and in the triple jump, with Greer Alsop winning at 41-25 (12.56m).

Washington’s double winners were Kennadi Bouyer (11.66/23.92) in the 100 and 200, and Gina Flint in the shot put and discus, throwing 49-7.25 (15.12m) in the former, and 150-5 (45.85m) in the latter.

In the men’s competition, the tone was set early when Colby Gilbert (left/photo by Paul Merca) led a Husky sweep in the 1500, running 3:48.00, followed by Blake Nelson and Johnathan Stevens, then grabbing a UW flag from the stands wrapped on a broom, and sweeping the finish line.

Gilbert was the only double men’s winner, taking the 3000 in 8:32.35.

WSU's CJ Allen, the former Pac-12 champion, won the 400 hurdles in impressive fashion under the conditions, running 50.74.

With the double team victory by Washington, the Huskies swept Washington State for just the second time in school history on the Cougars’ home track.  The last time UW accomplished the feat was in 1996.

Washington also swept its rival last year in Seattle, making for consecutive sweeps for the first time since 1996-97, and just the second time ever. The men have now won four consecutive Duals, the longest win streak for the Dawgs since way back in 1932, when Washington won its 11th in a row. This was the 97th installment of the men’s Dual, which dates back to 1901. Washington State still leads all-time, 58-38-1, while on the women’s side, the Huskies now lead the series, 20-17.

Afterwards, UW head coach Greg Metcalf said, “I challenged our team to just go out and compete and not let the weather get to them, or the long trip get to them, and just go out and beat a Cougar or two.” 

“That’s what makes this meet so special, it’s just about competition and wins and losses and scoring points for your team, and then the record times and the big marks come when you’re just worried about competing. To get a sweep in Pullman is something special in the history of this meet so our kids should be very proud. We had athletes fighting and scratching for every point they could get, and for some of them this will be the highlights of their season and well it should be.”

“Today was all about getting out there and competing hard in preparation for the championship part of our season and I thought we did a great job of doing that,” WSU head coach Wayne Phipps said. “People were stepping up all over and reaching PRs in conditions that were not ideal. We were forced to hold out a couple of people and hopefully we’ll get a little healthier for Pac-12s. Obviously we want to beat the Huskies but it was all about competing hard. The Huskies bring that out in us and having a scored meet brings out in us. It was a great preparation for Pac-12 Championships and the first round of the NCAAs.”

Complete results of The Dual between UW and WSU are available here.

Washington's recap is available here, while you can read Washington State's recap here.

NOTE:  The sports information offices of the University of Washington and Washington State University contributed to this report.