Quick link on the Washington women's distance crew...

With the Washington Huskies opening their indoor track season Saturday January 15th with the UW Indoor Preview at the Dempsey, here's the first of a series of posts previewing the UW track team, with the focus on its nationally renowned women's distance crew.

The Huskies have as deep and talented a roster on the women's side as any team in the country, and the only drawback of the past cross country season is that only seven get to run in the end. Track allows the full breadth of the program to impress.

Steeplechaser Mel Lawrence and middle distance standout Christine Babcock are expected to be the leaders of the 2011 Husky distance crew, as both have earned All-America honors on the track in the past.

One not so surprising revelation of the preview, written by the UW Sports Information office, is that five of its freshmen are aiming for spots on the USA junior national cross country team, which will be contested on February 5th in San Diego.

UW coach Greg Metcalf sees Liberty Miller, Mackenzie Carter, and Katie Flood (left/photo by Paul Merca), as well as prep national champ Megan Goethals and local standout Chelsea Orr keeping their attention on the trails for a few more weeks before getting to the track.

"One of our goals with our freshmen is to get to the first week of February and take a shot at making the USA Cross Country Junior Team," Metcalf says. "We have five women that are junior age eligible, so we have a chance to run a whole team at that meet."

To read the full story, please click here.

NOTE:  The UW Sports Information office contributed to this report.