Buffs Capture First Ever Pac-12 Titles
Head coach Marc Wetmore was excited about the cross country men and women’s teams winning the first Pac-12 title in late October. “I would give each team an ‘A’ for today’s performance,” he said. “They came out and raced what they were capable of and some even exceeded expectations.”
The cross country teams won the first ever Pac-12 Conference titles in any sport, sweeping the men’s and women’s races in October.
The victories mark the 13th time in school history that the men and women have won both titles at a conference championship since the inception of a women’s program in 1976. This is the first time has won both titles since the Big 12 Championships in 2007.
The men entered the meet with a No. 6 national ranking and the women were ranked No. 16.
The men recorded 46 points to defeat No. 4 Stanford by seven points. The women scored 50 points, followed by No. 2 Washington and No. 8 Stanford.
“In a conference that has the history that this one does and that has such great competitors, it means an incredible amount to show them what we have and what we bring to the table,” says Andy Wacker, who finished sixth in the 8K.
| In September Jenny Barringer Simpson (Econ, PolSci’09) became the first American woman to win the world championship title in the 1,500-meter race since former runner Mary Decker Slaney (A&S ex’79) pulled off the feat in 1983. “It’s very exciting to follow in her footsteps and bring the U.S. back to that level,” Simpson says. |
| For the first time since 2008, the men’s and women’s golf teams won invitational titles in the same season. The men also picked up an individual victory with Beau Schoolcraft, left, which was the first individual win by a men’s golfer in two-and-a-half years. Both the men’s and women’s teams cracked the top 25 in the national rankings. |