Too close for comfort, too proud to lose. The UW women’s cross-country team once again earned the title of Pac-10 champions on Friday, though not in the sweeping manner that many expected. Last year, they swept the top six spots at the meet, securing a perfect 15-point score. This year, the No. 2 Oregon Ducks made the Huskies work for it. The Washington men were forced to settle for a disappointing fourth-place finish, though a resurgent Jordan Swarthout ensured that they not lose more ground than they did.

Kendra Schaaf was the first Husky across the line for the women, and for much of the race, it looked like she might repeat as the individual winner at the meet. Last year, Schaaf set a Pac-10 meet record time, running away from the field and leading the race wire to wire. This year, Schaaf again shot out to an early lead but struggled with a knee strain later on and was in fifth place with a mile to go. Schaaf managed to battle back, though, and finished a close second to Oregon’s Nicole Blood.

Similarly, UW runner Kailey Campbell found herself suffering the effects of a re-sprained ankle early in the race. Campbell was dead last at one point and even had to walk a few steps after the injury. She claims that head coach Greg Metcalf’s intense sideline encouragement helped motivate her to get back in the race.

“I’m not going to lie­ — I’m pretty frustrated with myself,” Campbell said. “Coach and I have been talking about how I need to buy in and believe in myself. I don’t think that I bought into myself until 400 meters to go in that race.”

During those last 400 meters, however, Campbell went all in. She passed 10 runners, including a pivotal Duck to ensure that the Huskies retained the title. Campbell went into the race prepared for a battle, aware that emotions would be running high.

“I think we went into Pac-10s knowing that we’re definitely going to bring it. Oregon was pissed because we slaughtered them on their home course last year,” Campbell said. “No matter what, we knew we’d have to pull through. For me, it all started to come together when the coaches started yelling, ‘If you don’t catch up to the Oregon girl, we’re going to lose!’ Maybe Friday wasn’t an ‘on’ day, but we can still bring it. It’s funny. We finished the race, and it was like, ‘Oh my God. … They were too close for comfort.’ Kelly [Strong, assistant coach,] did a really good job of pointing out, though, that even though that happened, we still won Pac-10s.”

The men experienced a similar story of running through adversity and finding help in unexpected places. Swarthout, who had been off to a relatively slow start this season, came through in the clutch for the Huskies, finishing as the fourth UW runner. This finish might have come as a surprise to some, but not to Swarthout and Metcalf.

“All season, the dialogue with coach was, yeah, starting off the season a little slow,” Swarthout said. “But we were confident that come Pac-10s and October, I would be on a national team, be a scorer on the national team, and be on a top-10 team in the country.”

Swarthout’s even garnered himself a timely nickname: Mr. November.

As for the men’s team as a whole, the disappointment was digested in stride.

“We need to get over that one bad day and keep our eyes on the prize, keep moving forward, reinforcing,” Swarthout said. “We feel like as long as we run even an average race at regionals, we should have no problem getting to nationals.”

In light of this, the training plan calls for an emphasis on Nov. 23, the national meet, rather than a hard peak for West Regionals. That said, Swarthout is still excited for the regional meet in Springfield, Ore., on Nov. 14.

“It’s pretty much a home-meet environment for us,” Swarthout said. “I’m excited to see all the purple travel.”

Campbell was a little bit more wary about heading into the regional meet.

“It’ll be interesting,” Campbell said. “We’ll have a big fan turnout, but it’s Oregon’s home course, their home town. They’re licking their chops … they’re probably hoping to do something. But, they didn’t see everything we have this weekend.”

Reach reporter Zachary Gussin at sports@dailyuw.com.