Yorks and Meyers each take third, as Huskies replicate fourth place finish at Pac-12s...

COLFAX—Washington’s Izaic Yorks (left/photo by Paul Merca) and Maddie Meyers each earned third place finishes at the Pac-12 cross country championships Friday at the Colfax Golf Course, as both Washington squads replicated their fourth place finish from last year’s race in Oakland.

In the opening men’s 8k race, Yorks was in a large group of runners but patiently bided his time until the last of four laps of the Colfax Golf Course.

Eventual winner Edward Cheserek of Oregon utilized the same strategy before taking command on the last lap to take his third straight conference crown in a time of 23:07, with Yorks eight seconds behind.

Yorks overcame a late charge from Colorado’s Pierce Murphy to take third by one second.

Freshman John Dressel from Spokane finished sixth in 23:20 as Colorado’s second man as the country’s #1 ranked Buffaloes won yet another team title with a low score of 46 points.

Washington State’s John Whelan, who was among the early leaders, hung on to finish a surprising ninth in 23:27.

Also scoring for the Dawgs were Colby Gilbert in 18th (23:43); Fred Huxham in 22nd (23:49); Tyler King in 26th (23:55); and Andrew Gardner in 27th (23:57).

Washington State’s other scorers were Michael Williams in 12th (23:30); Sam Levora in 32nd (24:04); Chandler Teigen in 40th (24:25); and Jake Finney in 46th (24:36).

The Huskies scored 96 to finish fourth, while the vastly improved Cougar squad, running in front of their home crowd, were sixth with 137 points.

In the women’s 6k race, Washington’s Meyers (left/photo by Paul Merca) used the same strategy of staying in contact with the leaders before making a move on the final lap, as Stanford’s Aisling Cuffe, who won the Washington Invitational earlier this month, took the conference title in 19:54.

Colorado sophomore Kaitlyn Benner of Colorado made a late charge to take second from Meyers in 19:56 to Meyers’ 19:57.  

Benner’s runner-up finish led the Buffaloes to the team title, scoring a low of 45 to edge Oregon by six.

Also scoring for the Huskies were Anna Maxwell in 16th (20:26); Charlotte Prouse in 17th (20:27); Katie Knight in 22nd (20:35); and Eleanor Fulton in 34th (20:51).

Washington State finished tenth with a final team score 262, led by CharLee Linton in 36th (20:52), followed by Devon Bortfeld in 49th (21:09); Morgan Willson in 54th (21:15); Steffie Pavey in 74th (21:52); and Emily Dwyer in 85th (22:09).

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