It’s the same duo.
But a different dynamic.
On Oct. 18, 2018, Andy Powell — UW’s newly named head track and field and cross-country coach — attended the 4A KingCo title meet at Lake Sammamish State Park, headlined by future Huskies Luke Houser and Joe Waskom.
Woodinville’s Houser and Mt. Si’s Waskom, of course, had been trading metaphorical haymakers since middle school.
They were A.) cordial, and B.) competitive.
“I watched Joe Waskom and Luke Houser just battle to the death,” Powell recalled Tuesday, sitting in his office at UW’s Conibear Shellhouse. “They were side by side and not working together at all, just trying to beat each other. They were super nice guys, but one would go in front, and then the other would go in front. Over a long race it ended being a photo finish between the two of them.”
Literally, the runners recorded identical 15:17.32 times in the 5K race … with a camera deeming Houser the conference champion by a thousandth of a second.
“I won that one, just barely,” Houser said with a smile Tuesday.
It wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last.
But at Washington, the rivals-turned-teammates adopted a team-first approach. Waskom won the NCAA outdoor championship in the 1,500 meters last June, and Powell noted that Houser — who finished fifth — “really was the person who set Joe up to win the national title. He took [the lead] from 600 meters out and really set Joe up nicely.”
That teamwork fed into the fall and winter.
“We brought back a bunch of guys [for the indoor season], then we brought in a few transfers,” Houser said. “It just kind of instantly worked. It was like, ‘OK, this is going to be special.’
“All of us were already such good runners, but what made it special is how we get along as friends and as people. With the team dynamic, you could tell in the summer we were going to have a ton of success, because we work together so well.”
Case in point: the UW Invitational in January, when a whopping eight Husky men recorded sub-four-minute miles in the same race, led by Waskom’s 3:51.90 — the third-fastest mile in collegiate history and a Dempsey Indoor record. Those eight — Waskom, Houser, Brian Fay, Nathan Green, Kieran Lumb, Sam Ellis, Aaron Ahl and Aidan Ryan — repeated the feat at the Boston University Last Chance Invite in February as well.
“It was certainly the goal [for eight UW men to record sub-four-minute miles in the same race]. We didn’t say it out loud, though,” Powell said.
“We had an all-staff meeting with a couple hundred people from our athletic department [prior to the UW Invite]. I said, ‘Hey, if you guys come to this meet you’ll definitely see a sub-four minute mile.’ I didn’t say all eight or anything, because you didn’t want to jinx it. It was set up really well. They always work so well together.”
That point was proven last Saturday, when four Huskies — Houser, Waskom, Fay and Green — participated in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque, N.M. Because Waskom and Fay had run a relay the night before, it was determined that Houser likely had the freshest legs.
Which is when a plan was hatched.
“There were nine guys who ended up in the final. Four of them were our guys, and three of our guys ended up way on the outside. They were all right next to each other,” Powell explained. “So with those three guys — Luke [Houser], Joe [Waskom] and Brian [Fay] — we came up with a plan for them to work together.
“Basically it was a ‘Flying V,’ kind of like the Mighty Ducks. All three guys were going to start and then they were going to go into last place and get into formation. Once that formation was made they were going to move to the front and take the lead.”
The plan paid dividends, as UW’s trio fell into formation — Fay at the front, Houser and Waskom flanking him in a teammate triangle — and promptly flayed the field. Fay and Houser took turns in front, because — in Powell’s words — “it’s hard to lead a race. It’s better to draft, like in NASCAR, and then get control of the race. So for us, it was important that no one person was in the lead for too long.”
It was also important for the attached triangle to create a debilitating blockade along the outside, where runners typically pass. This allowed the Huskies to simultaneously draft off the leader and smother outside advances.
Until Houser made his move.
“Instead of Luke going to the outside [to pass], Brian knew to move out and let Luke slip through and then shut the door,” Powell said. “It gave Luke an advantage to be able to get to the front and form this Flying V. They basically took control of the race.
“If you watch it, it’s pretty cool. Normally, if you try to pull off a race plan it doesn’t work. It’s like a trick play in football. When it works, it’s unbelievable. But we all know most of the time it doesn’t work. This worked well.”
So well that all four Huskies earned All-American honors with top eight finishes — Houser (first, 4:03.33), Waskom (fourth, 4:03.73), Green (fifth, 4:03.86) and Fay (eighth, 4:05.07). Houser narrowly held off both Waskom and Drake’s Isaac Basten, who made a late charge along the inside.
(The elevation in Albuquerque provided an additional hurdle.)
Of course, South Carolina’s Anass Essayi — who finished third, at 4:03.61 — entered the race with the top time in the field.
But “the team tactics were the edge that put us over,” Powell said with a smile.
Same duo. Different dynamic.
“We get the best recruits in the country, but we also have to make sure they fit into the dynamic,” Waskom told letsrun.com afterward, with his arm around Houser. “Every one of us wants the best for each other. We are so stoked that Luke won today. Obviously we wanted to win, but I am so (expletive) happy for my boy.”
In all, UW’s milers provided 20 of their team’s 31 points — propelling Washington to a fourth-place trophy, its highest finish since the Huskies placed second at the NCAA Outdoor championships in 1930. Houser marveled that “a fourth-place finish in a track championship isn’t something I would have imagined four years ago.”
The result was unimaginable — as was the method.
“It started off definitely as a rivalry [with Waskom],” he said. “There was never any animosity; we were always friends. But it was like, ‘I know Joe Waskom’s a great runner, and I want to beat him.’ That was high school, racing against Joe. But then we both committed to UW and we’ve become great friends and training partners. Our relationship has definitely changed. We’ve become very close here. But he was always someone who drove me to be better.
“We’ve talked about [that Sammamish KingCo cross country final]. It’s amazing that we’re both national champions now. We’ve come so far together. It’s special.”