Darren Wallace tapped in his final putt, looked up and saw the herd of University of Washington men's golf teammates running onto the 18th green to hail him.

For a split second, he crouched to escape the attention – the only time in the three-day Pacific-10 Conference championships he did not face the competition straight-up.

Wallace, a junior from Vancouver, B.C., highlighted the Huskies' big week at Seattle Golf Club by capturing medalist honors Wednesday afternoon after his closing 2-under-par 70.

His 11-under 277 total beat teammate – and fellow Canadian – Nick Taylor (281) by four strokes.

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And that was just part of it. UW, the host school, won the team championship at 16-under 1424 – and by a whopping 18 strokes over Oregon (1442).

The sound triumph over higher-ranked teams Stanford (fourth at 1464) and Southern California (eighth at 1474) could catapult the Huskies into the West Coast's top seed for the NCAA Regionals on May 14-16 in California.

Asked if he was at all startled by the margin of victory, UW coach Matt Thurmond hesitated a few seconds, then responded, "The politically correct thing would be to say it was a surprise, but we won by 15 last week at Stanford, won by 15 at Oregon. We've had some convincing victories."

But none as good as this.

Wallace, who became the first Husky to win the Pac-10 title since Erik Olson in 2005, tied the course record Tuesday with a 65. And when challengers crept within striking distance Wednesday, Wallace relied on the skill that has gotten him going the past month – putting.

Just short of the green in two strokes on the par-5 ninth, Wallace curled in a 45-foot eagle putt to take a sizable cushion to the final nine holes.

"I always felt like I was going to play well this year," said Wallace, who was the UW's highest finisher at the Pac-10s last year at tied-for-13th. "It's important to build your game for the postseason because everyone wants to win that NCAA title, and nobody will remember the little victories earlier in the year."

Wallace has come a long ways. He was often the last player to fill out the lineup a year ago when the Huskies finished seventh at the NCAAs.

This season, he started out No. 5 in the six-player lineup, but was the No. 2 player at the U.S. Intercollegiate on April 19 in Palo Alto, Calif. Also, sophomore Tze Huang Choo has come on as well, and he finished eighth Wednesday at 287.

"Things kind of have come together for us, and we've fed off all the good energy everyone has been giving out," Choo said.

The win Wednesday marked the UW's fifth tournament victory this season. Wallace marked the third UW golfer to win an event as well.

To play as well as we have, you have to have all things firing," Thurmond said. "We've been awesome at the top of the lineup, and awesome at the bottom, too."

NOTES
Wallace was the only golfer in the field to shoot four rounds of par or better. … The UW last won the Pac-10 team title in 2005. … The regional format has changed this season to six tournaments (instead of three), with five schools advancing from each to the NCAAs (instead of 10). The Huskies will know Monday if they receive the No. 1 seed at the regional stop at Lake Merced Golf Club. … The NCAA championships will be held May 26-29 at Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio.