Huskies head to Madison for Wisconsin adidas Invite, while other squads stay close to home...
The University of Washington cross country teams travel to Madison, Wisconsin for Saturday's Wisconsin adidas Invitational at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, one of the country's few cross country specific race venues.
The Husky women, currently ranked #4 in the current USTFCCCA coaches' poll, is one of five top-10 teams racing the 6k distance, and one of 18 squads in the national top-30.
Washington won the women’s team title back in 2011 led by a seventh-place finish from Katie Flood (left/photo by Paul Merca), who aims for another strong effort on Saturday. Last season the women finished fourth in another excellent field. Seniors Justine Johnson and Liberty Miller will be on board, both looking to get rolling after missing some time with some aches and pains. Sophomores Eleanor Fulton, Maddie Meyers, and Baylee Mires will travel, along with freshmen Katie Knight, Kaylee Flanagan, and Amy-Eloise Neale, who led UW at Dellinger two weeks ago in her collegiate debut.
The men's squad, led by Aaron Nelson, looks to jump over some ranked squads and put themselves in the national conversation when it comes time to select the at-large teams for the national championship meet in Terre Haute, Indiana next month. Twenty of the top 30 teams are appearing in Madison, led by #3 Northern Arizona, #5 BYU, #6 Arkansas, #7 Portland, and #8 Columbia. Arizona, No. 30 Arizona State, and UCLA will also be on hand for the 8k race.
Besides Nelson, Washington will run a lineup of junior Aaron Beattie, sophomores Tyler King, Meron Simon and Jacob Smith, redshirt freshman Blake Nelson, and true freshmen Andrew Gardner and Sumner Goodwin. Also suiting up for the first time will be sophomore Izaic Yorks, who has run unattached at the past two races.
Several Huskies who aren't making the trip to Madison will run in Saturday's Emerald City Invitational, hosted by Seattle University at Lower Woodland Park, with a 6k for women at 10:30 am, and the men racing 8k at 11:15 am.
Three of the four Washington NCAA Division II schools will take this weekend off and prep for next weekend's GNAC championship meet at Western Oregon, with only Saint Martin's in action, as they'll compete in Seattle at the Emerald City Invitational meet.
Washington State, Gonzaga, and Eastern Washington will all travel to Lewiston, Idaho for Saturday's Inland Empire Classic, with the women racing 5k and the men racing 8k.
IS PORTLAND LOOKING TO HOST THE 2016 WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS?
According to a story posted by friend of the blog Ken Goe of OregonLive.com, there's a move by a group led by former Oregon head track coach Vin Lananna to bid for the IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championships and stage it in Portland.
In a separate story posted by the Daily Telegraph, Birmingham, England was originally the only city willing to bid for the event, but the IAAF allowed USA Track & Field some extra time to submit a bid.
Both Birmingham and Portland will put together a presentation to the IAAF Council on November 15th.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the proposed venue for the World Indoors is the Moda Center (formerly known as the Rose Garden), which is owned by Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen, though the Memorial Coliseum and the Oregon Convention Center are also being mentioned as a proposed site for the meet.
NOTE: The University of Washington, Washington State University, Seattle University, and the University of Wisconsin contributed to this report.
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