All but Track and Field is over for WSU athletics in the 2022-23 athletics year. With that brings a flood of memories of the good and the bad of the past year. Several programs had their best years under their current head coaches, while others sat below expectations.

With 15 athletics programs and much time passed since the start of the season, it’s time to take a step back and look at a sport-by-sport review. 

Football 

2022 was the first full season as head coach for Jake Dickert, a role he stepped into during the 2021 season, leading the Cougs to an Apple Cup victory in Seattle to cap off his run as interim. 

Starting the new year off, WSU was 3-0 with a massive 17-14 victory on the road against then-No. 19 ranked Wisconsin. Coming early in the season, the team looked promising and in prime contention to break out, and their fourth game looked to prove them as contenders. 

Against then-No. 15 ranked Oregon, WSU blew a 12-point lead in under five minutes to lose the game. After the Oregon game, the Cougs never fully regained their mojo, losing to ranked USC and Utah and losing the Apple Cup at home.

After receiving a bid to play in the LA Jimmy Kimmel Bowl, Fresno State outmatched the Cougs in a 29-6 rout as WSU finished 2022 7-6, going 4-5 in the Pac-12. After the season, WSU inked Dickert to a contract through the 2027 season, showing commitment from the school and the coach for Dickert to remain at the helm for the long run.

A notable standout of the year was transfer Daiyan Henley from Nevada. Henley chose the Cougs as his destination to increase his NFL stock, leading to his selection by the Los Angeles Chargers in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft. 

Soccer 

After a loss to Michigan and a draw with Portland, WSU soccer started the year with a seven-match winning streak. Quickly after, however, the team felt flat and ended with a whimper. Finishing 2022 8-7-4, the Conference became the bane of the team’s existence, going 2-6-3 against their consistent foes. 

Notably, the season’s final victory against Utah made head coach Todd Shulenberger the winningest coach in program history, no small feat. 

For their efforts, Margie Detrizio earned All-Pac-12 Second Team honors, Mykiaa Minniss earned a Pac-12 Third Team nod and Lily Boyden was named to the all-freshman team. The Kansas City Currnet also drafted Minniss in the third round of the NWSL draft, the ninth Coug to receive the honor of being drafted. 

Volleyball 

Jen and Burdette Greeny led the Cougs to a fantastic season as the team finished 23-10 and made a return to the NCAA Tournament, falling in the second round to eventually-Final Four bound San Diego. 

Magda Jehlarova had a stellar year as, among other distinctions, she capped it off by being named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The season’s biggest wins included an electric sweep of UW in the final regular season game in front of a record-breaking sell-out crowd of over 3,000, and an upset of No. 12 Oregon. 

All of Jen’s dedication to the program were recognized in 2022, as she achieved her 200th win as head coach and was named to the 2022 WIAA Hall of Fame class. 

Following the second-round vision, Karly Basham, Pia Timmer, Weronika Wojdyla, Julia Norville and Magda Jehlarova all announced their plans to come back to WSU to play in the fifth year of eligibility, a massive addition to a team with high expectations. 

With a new court in tow, 2023 looks to be a series of a deeper NCAA Tournament run andpotential Pac12 Championship . 

Cross Country 

Personal Records and positive team finishes highlighted the 2022-23 cross-country season. Neema Kitami finished tenth and with an All-Conference finish at the Pac-12 Championships with a time of 19:38.5. Kitami’s PR was among 12 others at the Championships. 

Another race that saw several PRs was the 10-notched at the NCAA Cross Country West Regional. Alaina Stone Briggs finished fourteenth (19:38.5) while improving her 6k personal best time by 9.3 seconds for the best women’s finish from WSU. Brain Barsaiya ran a personal best 10k time of 29:20.1 to secure 39th in the men’s field to lead the Cougs. 

Swimming 

While the team finished 2-6, personal bests and impressive relays headlined WSU’s year. Following their impressive years, Noelle Harvey and Emily Lungren were named to represent the U.S. at the World University Games in China. 

Lungren, just a freshman, had a record-breaking year for WSU. Alongside her, Dori Hathazi competed in the NCAA Championships representing the Cougs. 

In the Pac-12 Championships, Lungren placed third in the 200 breast, Hathazi broke a school record in the 200 fly with a 1:55.92 time, good for seventh place in the Pac-12. Another record broken was in the 400 free relays, as Angela Di Palo, Harvey, Hailey Grotte and Selena Duran posted a seventh-place 3:17.76. 

Speaking of relay, Hathazi, Harvey, Di Palo and Kirsten de Goede raced an 8:25.21 to place first and win a gold medal at the U.S. Open. 

Women’s Basketball 

“Man! I Feel Like a Woman.” The song by Shaina Twain perfectly encapsulates the most recent women’s basketball season vibe. The 23-11 season was one word: legendary. 

With the biggest win in program history, most won games in a single season, an NCAA Tournament bid and award-winning coaching from Kamie Ethridge, the year was certainly one to remember. 

The Athletic named Ethridge the coach of the year for her team’s crushing of expectations. But more importantly, the team won the Pac-12 Championship, the first Conference Championship in basketball in school history. More importantly, it was the first Conference Championship for any women’s sport at WSU, an accomplishment many decades in the making.  

Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player Charlisse Leger-Walker led the Cougs all year, and she will be back next year to lead the Cougs even further in the NCAA Tournament. 

For a more in-depth look at the season, click here. 

Men’s Basketball

A 17-17 finish does not do the highlights of the season justice. Mouhamed Gueye was an All-Pac-12 First Team selection and TJ Bamba followed suit with an All-Pac-12 honorable mention distinction. 

The best victory of the season was a massive upset of then-No. 5 Arizona, a victory that came when WSU was four games under .500 and starting off the year below where the team wanted to be. 

However, they turned it around and finished the regular season above .500 with a thunderous win over UW to sweep the Apple Cup. The 93-84 victory had the highlight of a thunderous breakaway dunk from Gueye, completely silencing the crowd and securing the win for the Cougs. The win capped a six-game streak of victories for the men as they entered the Pac-12 Tournament, a Tournament they fell in the second round in. 

The offseason has been less friendly for the team, with the NBA draft and the transfer portal poaching a majority of the production of the season. However, they have made additions both nationally and internationally, signing several players including a former national champion in an attempt to offset the losses over the offseason. 

Baseball

The Cougs were oh-so-close to a Pac-12 Tournament bid, needing a ninth-place or better finish, a sweep to No. 3 Stanford at the end of a season broke the hopes of the team. Finishing 29-23 and 10-19 in Pac-12, the year had its ups and downs but hopefully could have gone better.

Some of the best individual performances of the year came late. Jacob McKeon had a 5-for-5 with 2 home runs performance in game one of the Stanford series, nearly willing the team to victory. Dakota Hawkins had his own amazing performance. Against UW, he struck out 12, the fourth-most in program history. 

Tennis 

While a 7-15 finish in head coach Raquel Atawo’s second season was disappointing, especially given the 0-10 Pac-12 Conference finish, there was a fair amount of positive to come out of the season. 

Freshman Eva Alvarez Sande stepped into the No. 1 spot following her teammate Maxine Murphy’s injury, after her impressive year at that spot, she was named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team. 

Alongside her duo Elyse Tse, they have named alternatives for the 2023 NCAA Women’s Doubles Championship, a nod to their impressive track record playing together. 

With Alvarez Sande and Murphy leading the way, the future is brighter than the results of 2022. 

Rowing

A sixth-place finish at the Pac-12 Championship capped off the rowing season for the Cougs. WSU placed sixth in the varsity eight race, and their 1.82-second finish ahead of UCLA allowed them to surpass the Bruins in the standings. 

Beating their seeding coming in, the team showed heart and grit that fully embodied the Cougar way. 

Senior Madeleine Pollard led the way for WSU, earning the recognition of All-Pac-12 for her efforts during the season. Rowing in the stroke position, a four-year member of the team, there is no doubt that her impact is tremendous. 

Women’s Golf 

Darcy Habgood got to end her WSU career at the NCAA Pullman Regional, playing on her home course with the full support of her coaches. Finishing T-21st hitting 4-under 212, she called the opportunity of playing in the Regional a completed goal for herself from the start of her career. 

Sophomore Madelyn Gamble had her own tremendous success this year, as she finished third at the Pac-12 Championships in a tie for the best finish in school history. Shooting 1-under 71 on the final day, she finished overall 4-under 212.

Men’s Golf 

From freshmen to seniors, the men’s golf team received recognition for their play over the season. Pono Yanagi and Sam Renner both received All-Pac-12 honorable mentions, with Renner adding an All-Pac-12 Freshman Team selection. 

To end the season, Yanagi represented the team at the 2023 NCAA Morgan Hill Regional, where if he got a first-place finish, he would move on to the NCAA Championships. He finished 32nd after carding 6-over 222, being the first Coug representation in an NCAA Men’s Golf Regional in a decade. 

The last appearance for the team was in the National Golf Invitational, carding 2-under 286 and in a tie for sixth at the Invitational. 

Track and Field 

WSU has 16 qualified athletes set to compete at the 2023 NCAA Division-1 West Preliminary Round of their events, with eight men and eight women making up those athletes. At the Pac-12 Championships, the Cougs had two podium finishes and several others finished in the top 10, according to WSU athletics.