Sophie O'Sullivan gets first UW win in 1500m since 2012 as Dawgs finish fourth at NCAA champs...
EUGENE--University of Washington senior Sophie O'Sullivan (Paul Merca photo) ran to victory in the 1500 meters to set up a historic fourth place finish for the Husky women.
For the second time in the 2024-25 academic school year, the Dawgs finished on the podium with a trophy riding on the bus from Eugene to Seattle, on the final day of the NCAA Division I Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field.
Washington started the day in third place with 16 points thanks to the 1-3 finish by twins Hana and Amanda Moll in Thursday's pole vault.
The question became whether or not the Huskies, with a small number of finalists competing, could maintain the momentum against the other powerhouse teams.
The 1500 provided an inkling of what was to come, as O'Sullivan, the Irish Olympian, tried to go to the front early. However, Virginia Tech’s Lindsey Butler ran to the early lead, but O’Sullivan was content to sit right behind in second.
With just over 800 to go, the Irish Olympian took the lead, figuring it would be better to just get in front than risk getting shuffled back if someone else made a move and expending extra energy to get better positioning.
The field tried to make a run at O'Sullivan, but she dropped the hammer and no runner was able to match her acceleration. The gap grew around the second to last turn, and the Paris Olympian came flying down the homestretch with daylight behind her, thanks to a 58.43 last 400 to take the win in 4:07.94.
Foerster moved up to grab eighth overall in 4:11.03, and the final scoring place to take the Huskies to 27 points with three scoring opportunities remaining in the steeplechase, heptathlon and 5000.
"I really thought that someone was going to close on me, (and) I was running a bit scared," O'Sullivan said to reporters in the mixed zone after the race.
"They say if you’re not first, you’re last, but I guess it works the other way that if you’re not last, you’re first.”
O'Sullivan, who combined with Nathan Green's win in the men's 1500 Friday, teamed to become the second school to sweep the event in the same meet. Oregon was the last to do it in 1984 with Joaquim Cruz and Claudette Groenendaal.
Moments after O'Sullivan and Foerster finished their race, Maggie Liebich of the Huskies, ran valiantly, but could not get herself in scoring position, finishing tenth in 9:50.77.
In a championship meet with team trophy implications, a squad needs to have an unexpected breakthrough, and it came in the form of Sofia Cosculluela in the sixth event of the heptathlon, the javelin.
The freshman from Spain, entered the second day in 15th place with 3398 points.
In the opening event of day 2, Cosculluela jumped 19-6.75 (5.96m) to move to 14th place.
Already one of the better javelin throwers in the field, the Spaniard, whose previous personal best was 146-11 (46.79m) at the Mt. SAC Relays in April, launched the spear, and watched it land 160-8 (48.97m) to win the event, scoring 840 points to move all the way up to sixth with the 800 meters remaining.
While not one of the stronger 800 meter runners in the field, Cosculluela gutted out a 2:23.14 to score 781 points and maintain sixth place overall in the competition.
Cosculluela closed out the heptathlon with a two-day score of 5856, a season best, but short of her personal best of 6017 points scored last year in winning her national championship.
Tahoma HS grad Alaina Brady of Notre Dame finished one spot ahead of Coscullela in fifth with a personal best score of 5875 points.
On the final day of the event, Brady went 19-2.5 (5.85m) in the long jump, then threw the javelin 137-10 (42.02m), and closed with a time of 2:17.95 in the 800.
With the three points in the heptathlon, it gave the Huskies 30 points with the 5000 remaining.
In Washington's final opportunity to score, Amina Maatoug and Julia David-Smith brought things to a finish for the Huskies in the 5000.
Maatoug, doubling back from the 1,500-meter semis on Thursday, stayed in the midst of a main pack that stayed very large until very late in the race.
The final few laps as the speed increased were extremely jumbled and chaotic but Maatoug went into full sprint mode over the last 300-meters. Down the final homestretch she dug hard for sixth, but got just edged out by two women at the finish that knocked her to eighth and the final scoring position.
Maatoug finished in 15:35.93, becoming the first Husky woman to score in the 5,000-meters at NCAAs since Amy-Eloise Neale in 2018.
After running in the middle of the pack, David-Smith finished 19th in 15:59.27.
With an injury to one of their runners before the 4 x 400 relay, South Carolina, which was the only team entered in the event with a chance to pass the Huskies for fourth, was forced to scratch from the race.
The Gamecocks needed at least a sixth place finish in the final event to tie Washington with 31 points, and the final podium position.
Braelyn Baker of Carnation, running for Duke, finished ninth in the 400 hurdles in 56.64. She also led off the Blue Devils in the 4 x 400 relay, running a split of 52.38. Her team finished fifth with a season best time of 3:27.40.
Georgia was a dominant winner of the team title, finishing with 73 points, well ahead of USC's 47 points. Texas A&M was third with 43 points, followed by the Huskies with 31.
Behind Washington was Illinois with 29.5 points, and former Pac-12 rival Stanford with 29.
SAM TANNER, LUKE HOUSER AND GIANNA WOODRUFF ENTERED IN STOCKHOLM DIAMOND LEAGUE MEET SUNDAY...
The Wanda Diamond League resumes action Sunday in Stockholm, Sweden with the Bauhaus Galan meet, the seventh stop of the season at the Olympic Stadium.
Former Huskies Sam Tanner and Luke Houser are entered in the men's 1500, which happens Sunday morning on the West Coast at 8:06 am (5:06 pm local time) before the meet's television window begins at 9 am.
The men's 1500 is not a Diamond League scoring event at the Bauhaus Galan.
Washington alum Gianna Woodruff, fresh off a third place finish in the 400 hurdles at the Bislett Games in Oslo, runs in her specialty against a field that includes training partner Dalillah Muhammad, former USC All-American Amalie Iuel of Norway, and Femke Bol of the Netherlands.
Flotrack ($) will stream the meet live in the USA starting at 9 am in the Pacific time zone.
FORMER BROOKS BEAST JESSICA MC CLAIN NAMED TO USA WORLD CHAMPS MARATHON TEAM...
USA Track & Field announced that former Seattle resident and Brooks Beast Jessica McClain, the alternate for the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 Marathon team, will step up to represent Team USATF at the September event. This roster change comes following Betsy Saina’s announcement that she will decline her spot as she’s expecting a baby this fall.
The Stanford alum will join Susanna Sullivan and Erika Kemp on the US squad.
McClain was seventh at the Boston Marathon in April with a time of 2:22:43, and has a personal best of 2:25:46 that earned her fourth place at last year's Olympic Trials marathon. She was also fourth in the 10000 at the 2024 US Olympic Trials.
The women’s marathon is set to take place on the morning of September 14 with the men’s team–Clayton Young, CJ Albertson, and Reed Fischer–to follow on September 15.
NOTE: The sports information office of the University of Washington, the Wanda Diamond League, and the NCAA contributed to this report.
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