Women Earn Top-10 Finish In Program Of The Year Standings

SEATTLE - On the strength of top-20 finishes at NCAA Cross Country and NCAA Outdoor Track, the Husky women's track and field/cross country program came in ninth in the USTFCCCA's Terry Crawford Women's Program of the Year standings, finalized this week. It's the third top-10 finish in the rankings for Washington since the award was created in 2009.

To qualify for inclusion in the Program of the Year awards, a team must place at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, and then score at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Additional challenges imposed by Covid-19, which moved the cross country season to the winter alongside the indoor track season, meant that only 12 women's teams and six men's teams were able to place at all three championships this year. Washington's women, and Colorado's women, were the only two squads in the Pac-12 Conference to make the list this year.

This year, the women's cross country team placed 13th at NCAAs, and then the indoor team tied for 52nd. The outdoor squad tied for 19th-place behind top-five finishes from Katie Rainsberger, Ida Eikeng, and Haley Herberg.

The women's team has now qualified in eight of the 12 years the rankings have been compiled, and have made the cut in both of Director Maurica Powell's two full seasons (no rankings in 2020). The Huskies were 11th in 2019 in Powell's first year.