Pac-12 Championships Come to an End in Boulder

BOULDER – The last ever Pac-12 Track and Field Championships came to a conclusion here at Potts Field on Sunday, wrapping up a historic weekend in Boulder. The Colorado men tied for sixth out of 10 teams while the women's squad placed fourth out of 12.

"Both teams ended up a little higher than I expected," head coach Mark Wetmore said. "Coming into this day, the men weren't doing great. They had a very good third day, a big handful of points in the 5k from the same guys that were not totally brilliant in the 10k two nights ago, so I'm proud of how they rose up. Across the board both teams rose up on the third day. Fourth and sixth is beyond my aspirations, but I'm happy."

The Washington Huskies took the men's title after beating out USC by a total of nine points as the Oregon Ducks won the women's title for a third consecutive year.

On the final day of competition, the pole vault and high jump events were moved to the Indoor Practice Facility (IPF) due to weather conditions. Despite some action being moved inside, the hammer throw, triple jump and all running events remained outdoors.

The final races electrified the growing crowd to make for a great atmosphere as the weather cleared up. It was a great conclusion to a meet that saw over 20 facility records broken.

The Buffaloes had multiple Pac-12 champions and several podium finishers throughout the weekend and it all started with Bailey Hertenstein. She became the Pac-12 champion in the 10,000-meters and 5,000-meters to help the women's team score drastically. Hertenstein's 10,000 time broke the Potts Field record that was set in 2015 while her 5,000 time broke the Potts Field record set back in 1992.

Abbey Glynn added eight points for Colorado with a second place finish in the 400-meter hurdles. There was some controversy that took place after the race was over when Oregon's Jasmine Jones was disqualified for hooking the seventh hurdle. The disqualification was later reversed as Jones' time of 53.87 stood as the best 400m hurdles time in the world this year. 

Glynn still managed second place and now has the seventh best mark in the NCAA this year with a time of 55.31. She broke the school record in the event which she already previously held.

Shortly after on the track, Austin Vancil picked up a third place finish to make his second trip to the podium this weekend. He earned bronze in the 5,000 with a time of 14:18.32. Vancil was Colorado's highest scorer in the Pac-12 Championships.

Another Buff that had a great performance this weekend was Avery McMullen. She continued her amazing season by setting a new school record in the women's heptathlon and winning the Pac-12 title in the event. McMullen placed first in three events and second in another to propel her up to a whopping 5913 points. The next best score was 172 points behind McMullen.

"Yeah, I was super excited," said McMullen on Sunday. "I was looking forward to this meet because it's my fifth year, my last Pac-12 meet ever and I just wanted to come out here and do the best I could."

Other notable Colorado athletes that made it to the podium over the weekend were Samree Dishon, Jada Green and Kole Mathison. The relay of Joy Moorer, Emma Pollak, McMullen and Glynn just missed out on the top-three in the women's 4x400-meter race, however they ended the meet by breaking the school record in the event.

Next up for the Buffs are the NCAA West Preliminaries which will take place in Fayetteville, Arkansas on May 22-25.

POTTS FIELD BROKEN RECORDS (all of the following records were broken this weekend)