With no UW/WSU Dual in 2023, here's a fun look at how the meet would turn out...
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| A late 2012 photo of Husky Track before its completion (Beynon Sports photo) |
Every once in a while, social media posts will get you thinking.
Over the last week, old posts came up on my timeline remembering the annual Dual between the teams from the University of Washington and Washington State University, including the 2017 version of the meet, which came down to a winner-take-all men's 4 x 400 meter race.
The annual Dual Meet between the Huskies and the Cougars would have happened either last weekend or this weekend, as it usually slots into one of the final two weekends in April, usually after the annual Southern California trip for both teams.
The Huskies were supposed to host The Dual this year, but issues with the infield area would invalidate marks in the throws, as the infield has gradually sunk over the ten years of the facility's existence.
As part of the Husky Stadium renovation project after the 2011 season, the track was removed from the stadium, and the track team relocated to a new facility next to the Husky soccer and baseball stadiums.
To put some context into why there won't be a Dual this year, the track facility was built over ten years ago on what was formerly a landfill adjacent to swampland at the head of Union Bay. When the track was built, a series of underground pilings were put underneath the track to reinforce it.
Not enough pilings were put underneath the grass infield to reinforce the throwing areas, over the objection of then Husky track coach Greg Metcalf, basically reducing Husky Track to its present state as a very expensive practice facility.
Since there won't be a meet between the Huskies and the Cougars, I thought I'd put together a hypothetical meet to see how it would turn out.
All marks used for this exercise are from this season only, so while theoretically I could put, for example, both the Huskies' Brian Fay and Joe Waskom in the steeplechase, I'm not doing so. All marks come from the TFRRS rankings website.
Marks in the 5000 were used to project the outcome of the 3000, and I did not take into account possible doubling, tripling, and quadrupling by athletes, as in a meet like the Dual, entries can be made at the line, depending on the score at the time of the meet.
In the men's meet, I have the Huskies winning by a comfortable 99-62 count, with two points up for grabs in the hammer and the triple jump.
Like the men's meet, there are two points up for grabs in the women's competition in the 3000 steeplechase, and the triple jump, as there isn't a second Husky or Cougar with a mark this season in those two events (those events with no third place finisher are highlighted in red).
Those two points in the women's race are the difference in who wins and loses the meet, as according to my hypothetical form chart, I have the Huskies winning by a 81-80 margin.
An 81-80 margin may be all good, except that in a dual meet that has 19 events scored 5-3-1 (except for the relays which are scored 5-0), 82 points are needed to clinch the meet.
Here is my formchart below:
While none of us will truly ever know who would win the meet, it's something to argue about while we hope for the return of the meet in 2024.
ED TRIPPAS NAMED PAC-12 MEN'S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK...
Washington's Ed Trippas was named by the Pac-12 Conference Tuesday as its men's track athlete of the week. He follows in the steps of Brian Fay who won the award a week ago. Trippas broke a 36-year-old Washington school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with his victory last Friday at the Payton Jordan Invitational.
The 2020 Australian Olympian finally took down Dan Bell’s 1987 record of 8:32.27, as he rolled to a time of 8:31.40 at Stanford’s Cobb Track & Angell Field. That time for Trippas ranks him third in the NCAA this season. The transfer from Princeton was fifth in the NCAA steeplechase final last year.
Trippas raced for the Huskies during the fall cross country season, helping the team to a 14th-place NCAA finish. He competed unattached during the indoor track season, as he was out of indoor eligibility, but he progressed well in his indoor races to set himself up for a great start to the outdoor track season.
This is the fourth Pac-12 Athlete of the Week honor for UW this season, and the third men’s track award for UW in six weeks.
NOTE: The media relations department of the Pac-12 Conference, University of Washington and Washington State University contributed to this report.
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