Record-breakers, conference champions, and All-Americans lead highly-ranked Husky harriers
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BY BOB SHERWIN • CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ndy Powell, the fourth-year coach of the Washington Huskies’ men’s cross country team, has been around long enough to know when his runners, collectively, are on the verge of optimum performance. Generally, it’s around the time when he’s not around. As he points out, “when I find myself doing less and less coaching, then I know I have a good team, when they’re showing up on time and figuring out all the little things they have to do.” This season, Powell has a good team. The school couldn’t ask any less from him. “I think we’re ranked 13th in the country now. (But) we’re definitely a top 10 team,” Powell said. “I think we can be really good. It’s a matter of staying healthy and improving each meet.” Powell understands the self-starting qualities of distance runners. He was one once, among the best 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters runners in the nation coming out of high school in Massachusetts then competing for Stanford. PAGE 10
He knows what it takes to succeed and what it takes out of you, running around 100 miles a week virtually year-round. What Powell tries to provide is a winning culture as well as stressing how much better they can be when they run together. “If you want to break the four-minute mile, you can do it yourself, but you run a lot faster when you have someone helping you along,” Powell said. “Doing things together carries you a lot farther.” Better together has been Powell’s style since he began coaching for Oregon in 2005. He served in various roles for the Ducks, primarily as the distance running coach. In his 13 years there, his list of accomplishments is exhaustive. He had a hand in guiding Ducks’ runners to a combined 34 NCAA titles, 24 Pac-12 titles and 157 All-America selections. Among the Ducks many titles were back-to-back NCAA cross country crowns (2007-08), along with another eight top-10 finishes.
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