1-2-3-4-5-6

On Friday, while most of us were thinking about trick or treating, The University of Washington women's XC team swept the first six spots at the Pac-10 Championships (held this year in Springfield, Or.). It's a feat never accomplished before, and not likely to again. Freshman Kendra Schaff led the way with a course record of 19:24, and, in fact, the top four finishers all broke the course record of 19:57. The team is ranked #1 in the nation, and in the sweep, destroyed #2, Oregon, at what was basically a home meet for them.

Song: "Counting Five or Six" - Cornelius (lyrics are a repeating count up of "1-2-3-4-5-6")

While this accomplishment is strong enough for anyone to want to draw attention to it, but it should also be stated that I ran for the UW men's XC team back in the day, and my old teammate and roommate Greg Metcalf is the head coach receiving much of the accolades for this feat.

At a time when the football team is at it's lowest point, and sports in Seattle in general are quite depressing, this story should have a lot more legs, no pun intended. Running as a sport has never gotten much play here in the Seattle news, going back to when even my old team was in the running for a National Championship (we ended up 4th in the nation,) but you'd think at this time in Seattle, that this bright silver lining would have it's day.

[more videos here on the feat at flotrack and Paul Merca's blog.]