SAN FRANCISCO – Stanford’s Udodi Onwuzurike and Oregon State’s Grace Fetherstonhaugh were named the Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Track Athletes of the Year, while Arizona’s Jordan Geist and USC’s Allie Jones were tabbed Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Field Athletes of the Year in a vote of Conference coaches announced on Thursday. 

USC’s William Jones was named Pac-12 Men’s Track & Field Freshman of the Year and Stanford’s Juliette Whittaker secured Pac-12 Women’s Track & Field Freshman of the Year honors. Washington’s Andy Powell and Oregon’s Jerry Schumacher were named Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year, respectively.

PAC-12 MEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Udodi Onwuzurike, Stanford
Udodi Onwuzurike notched an historic performance in the 200m at the Pac-12 Championships, winning the event with a meet record time of 19.91. It was a wind-legal time for Onwuzurike, who broke UCLA’s Ato Boldon’s meet record of 20.00 set in 1996; he’s just the third male competitor in Pac-12 history to duck under 20 seconds all-time. He now ranks third in Pac-12 history in the event and bettered his own school record at Stanford. 

The West Bloomfield Township, Mich., native narrowly missed out on a victory in the 100m at the Pac-12 Meet, finishing second overall at 10.23, just one one-hundredth of a second behind Oregon’s Micah Williams. Onwuzurike won the 200m competition at the Mt. SAC Relays earlier in the year, as well as doubled in the 100m and 200m at the Stanford Invite. 

Onwuzurike becomes just the third Stanford man to ever win the Pac-12 Track Athlete of the Year award, joining Tony Sandoval (1976) and Chris Derrick (2012). 

PAC-12 WOMEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Grace Fetherstonhaugh, Oregon State
Fetherstonhaugh captured Women’s Track Athlete of the Year honors after making history for Oregon State at the Pac-12 Championships last weekend, doubling as the league champion in the 3000m steeplechase and 5000m to earn the Beavers’ first two individual Conference titles in program history. She becomes Oregon State’s first-ever student-athlete or coach to win a Pac-12 postseason award in track & field.

Fetherstonhaugh’s aforementioned double at the Pac-12 Meet had only ever been achieved by Arizona State’s Kelly MacDonald in 2001, the first year the women’s steeplechase was conducted at a Pac-12 Championship. The Westminster, B.C., native has earned top-5 finishes in each of her five races during the 2023 outdoor season, including PRs in the 5000m (15:30.55) at the Stanford Invite and 1500m (4:11.00) at the Bryan Clay Invite.  

PAC-12 MEN’S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Jordan Geist, Arizona
Arizona’s Jordan Geist earned Pac-12 Men’s Athlete of the Year for the third time (2019, 2021), becoming the first three-time winner of the award in Conference history. Geist is also just the second Wildcat to ever win three postseason awards, joining distance runner Robert Cheseret who won Pac-12 Men’s Track Athlete of the Year in 2004, 2005, and 2006. 

Geist doubled with victories in the men’s hammer and shot at the Pac-12 Championships last weekend, bringing his career total of Pac-12 titles to six, with four shot put crowns. Geist is now tied with UCLA’s John Godina for the most league throwing titles among male competitors and is the only Pac-12 man all-time to collect four shot put victories at the Pac-12 Meet.

PAC-12 WOMEN’S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Allie Jones, USC
Jones earned her first-career Women’s Field Athlete of the Year award in her first season with USC. The graduate transfer from Stanford won her second-straight Pac-12 heptathlon title with a school-record total of 6,234 points, becoming just the fourth woman in Conference history to eclipse 6,000 points at the championship meet. The Santa Barbara native dominated the field, winning four of the seven events and notching personal-best performances in three events. Notably, her time of 12.81 in the 100m hurdles she notched during the heptathlon, is itself the seventh-fastest time in school history in the event.

Earlier in the outdoor season, Jones impressively took down an elite heptathlon field of professional athletes and collegians at the Mt. SAC Relays with a then-lifetime-best total of 6,217 points. She also scored in three events (100H, high jump, long jump) for the Trojans in the USC women’s victory over UCLA in the annual dual meet. 

PAC-12 MEN’S TRACK & FIELD FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: William Jones, USC
Jones captured the Pac-12 Men’s Freshman of the Year honors after a lifetime-best performance at the Conference Meet, winning the men’s 400m competition with a blistering time of 44.65. Jones narrowly defeated teammate and two-time defending Pac-12 400m champion Johnnie Blockburger for the event title. 

Notably, the Overland Park, Kansas, native had never broken 46 seconds in collegiate competition before the Pac-12 Meet and subsequently accomplished the feat in prelims (45.22) and the aforementioned final. Jones vaulted himself into the Trojan record books with his performance, currently positioned fifth all-time on USC’s all-time 400m list. 

PAC-12 WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Juliette Whittaker, Stanford
Whittaker won the women’s 800m at the Pac-12 Championships, crossing with a time of 2:01.19 to earn the win in her first-career collegiate postseason final. She also became Stanford’s first-ever winner of the women’s 800m at the Pac-12 Championships. It was an outdoor season-best time for Whittaker and the fifth-fastest collegiate time in the nation this year. 

The Laurel, Md., native is already seventh all-time in Pac-12 history in the event, as she clocked a time of 2:00.05 this past indoor season to etch her name on the all-time Conference list as a true freshman. Whittaker is Stanford’s third-all time Women’s Freshman of the Year honoree, joining thrower Valarie Allman (2014) and distance runner Lauren Fleshman (2000). 

PAC-12 MEN’S TRACK & FIELD COACH OF THE YEAR: Andy Powell, Washington
Powell earned his first-career Pac-12 Men’s Coach of the Year honor after leading the Washington men to their first-ever league title at the Pac-12 Track & Field Championships last weekend at Mt. San Antonio College (MT. SAC). The Huskies racked up 151 points to fend off USC for the title, clinching the win with Brian Fay’s victory in the 5000m on Sunday afternoon. Powell and UW also halted Oregon’s record streak of 15 consecutive men’s league titles dating back to 2007.

Powell’s accolade is the third all-time Pac-12 Men’s Coach of the Year acclaim for Washington and first since Greg Metcalf earned the honor in 2016. Washington is currently the No. 11-ranked men’s program on the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national rating index.

PAC-12 WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD COACH OF THE YEAR: Jerry Schumacher, Oregon
Schumacher earned his first-career Pac-12 Women’s Coach of the Year honors after leading the Oregon women to the league title in his first year at the helm of the Ducks’ program. Oregon compiled 158.5 points at the Pac-12 Meet at Mt. SAC and boasted the Pac-12 Women’s Athlete of the Meet, Jadyn Mays, who won the 100m and competed on the Ducks’ winning 4x100m relay squad. 

Schumacher has guided the Oregon women to the No. 3 national ranking ahead of the NCAA West Preliminary Round.