It’s a good time to be in the University of Washington’s “Aussie House.”
Three Australian members of the Husky women’s track and field team — and two members of the distance medley relay team that broke an NCAA record by two seconds on Feb. 3 — plus a Portlander are all under one roof this year.
“Having Aussies in the house keeps me sane,” senior Carley Thomas said. “I love it here and I have awesome friends, but it is nice having people from home. We have a lot of jokes and lingo that go over people’s heads. At least at home, someone in the room understands what I’m talking about.”
The fun continued Friday and Saturday at the Husky Classic at UW’s Dempsey Indoor Center, where the men’s (2nd) and women’s (5th) teams were ranked in the top five of the national ratings index simultaneously. That’s the first time that’s happened and UW was one of three schools in the country that could claim it.
The Aussie House’s prep for the home event differed. Thomas, a biology major and student assistant in a lab, needed to check on the stem cells she was growing — “I had to feed them; they were hungry” — before warming up. Junior Sophie O’Sullivan slept in and took a chilly morning dip in Lake Washington, a practice she’s been enjoying lately.
O’Sullivan was born and mostly raised in Australia, but her mother Sonia is Irish and Sophie holds dual citizenship. Sonia won a gold medal in the 5,000 meters at the 1995 World Championships and silver at the 2000 Olympic Games. Sophie has also competed for Ireland and hopes to do so again this summer.
Sonia is now based in Portland at Union Athletics Club, close to Sophie, who had meant to go on more visits before selecting UW. It was the first school she visited.
“I figured I’d come here and then I’d suss out the rest,” she said. “I got here and I thought, ‘This is kind of all right.’ So I was like, I’ll rock it.”
She struggled at first. She wasn’t in ideal shape, comfortable or confident, in part because of pandemic restrictions and in part because, well, college in another country is a massive adjustment.
It’s gotten better. A lot better.
In the midst of a breakout season in cross country and track, O’Sullivan won the mile in 4:33.24 on Saturday afternoon. No stranger to discomfort — if you’ll recall the daily, chilly lake swim — O’Sullivan pushed herself further and decided to take part in the 800 soon afterward, crossing the line last in her heat at 2:08.94 and looking very much out of gas.
“I was trying to hang on and see what I can do,” O’Sullivan said. “I didn’t totally have it there, but I gave it a crack and it was kind of a good laugh.”
Housemate Thomas turned in a 2:03.68, best of the day in the women’s 800 meters.
“I was really excited to race,” Thomas said. “I’m just really enjoying racing at the moment, which is awesome. I think I’m getting the most out of myself.”
Both were part of the record-setting “DMR” on Feb. 3 at the BU Track & Tennis Center in Boston. Each leg of the medley relay features a different distance.
Initially, they thought the growing screams were garden-variety support. Then it was everywhere, which was confusing.
O’Sullivan went first and finished the 1,200 leg in 3:16.24.
“I had not a clue what was going on,” she said. “I had 10 minutes to work it out, but I was just kind of watching the race.”
Neither did Thomas, who handled the 800 in 2:01.93. Together with Marlena Preigh and Anna Gibson they turned in a time of 10:46.62. It was the first NCAA record for the UW track & field program since 2019 when Olivia Gruver broke the outdoor women’s pole vault record.
The Huskies broke the school record from 2012 by eight seconds. The previous record was set by Oregon in 2017, then coached by current UW Director of Track and Field Maurica Powell.
So their coach had the words ready.
“Maurica said to us, ‘You don’t get that many exciting moments that often in the sport. It’s few and far between.’” Thomas said. “You have to soak it up while you can.”
A week before that, the men’s team celebrated a flashy accomplishment of its own. The Huskies, overseen by Maurica’s husband Andy, turned in eight sub-four-minute miles at the UW Invitational and rose to No. 1 nationally.
At the end of Saturday’s meet, Sam Ellis and Nathan Green went 1-2 in the men’s 800. Ellis is competing unattached because he transferred from Princeton and has only outdoor eligibility remaining. So while Ellis (1:46.77) won, Green (1:46.99) officially broke the record set just two weeks prior.
“They’re both milers. Wanted to drop down to the (800) and work on our speed a little bit,” Andy said. “They both ran massive PRs (personal records). It was actually a little bit of a surprise, but a pleasant one for sure.”
The fourth-place finisher in the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in 2022, junior Jayden White came into Friday on the outside looking in at a third straight trip to nationals. The Everett High School product moved up to No. 5 in the NCAA. He had a season-best throw of 73 feet, 8.75 inches to win.
So not just the Aussie House — it’s a good time to be in the UW track and field program.
“Just to be a top-5 team, both men and women, is really exciting for us,” Andy Powell said. “It’s something we’ve been aspiring to do since we got here five years ago, and it’s something we had to get people to buy into because we were a long ways away from it.
“Now I think we’ve laid a pretty good foundation. We’re in a good place.”