Dawgs surprised by Pac-12 rival Arizona in Louisville...
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky--Although the number one ranked Washington women's team was missing a significant piece in Megan Goethals, the Huskies finished second to Pac-12 rival Arizona at the Greater Louisville Classic Saturday at E.P. 'Tom' Sawyer State Park, where the NCAA championships will be held in November.
Leading the Dawgs over the 5,000-meter course was junior Katie Flood (left/photo by Paul Merca), who made her season debut and placed third in 16-minutes, 55-seconds, as Arizona's Elvin Kibet won the race in 16:51.
Senior Lindsay Flanagan made her season debut as well with a ninth-place finish in 17:02. Washington capped its scoring as Libery Miller, Kayla Evans, and Justine Johnson all crossed within a second of each other. Miller and Johnson were running for the first time this fall while Evans continues her excellent comeback season. Miller was 21st in 17:15, and Evans and Johnson were 23rd and 24th, respectively, in 17:16.
Freshman Maddie Meyers placed 42nd overall in 17:31 in her first road trip with the Dawgs. Completing the top-seven was sophomore Chelsea Orr, who was 53rd in a time of 17:38.
In Springfield, Oregon, SeattleU redshirt senior Erik Barkhaus finished a strong seventh, while the Huskies' Joey Bywater was one place behind at the Bill Dellinger Invitational, hosted by the University of Oregon.
Washington finished fourth in the 10 team field, as third-ranked BYU earned the win with 32 points, followed by 23rd-ranked Oregon which had 49 points. Southern Utah edged Washington for third, scoring 111 points while UW had 114.
Gonzaga was fifth with 130, and SeattleU sixth with 181.
Oregon's Trevor Dunbar took the win, running 23:38 for the 8k course.
Barkhaus crossed the line in 23:56, with Bywater one second behind. Gonzaga was led by Tate Kelly in 21st in 24:57.
In the women's team race, Oregon's Alexi Pappas, a senior transfer from Dartmouth, took the victory over a 5-k course, running 16:23, winning decisively over former Husky Christine Babcock, who only has track eligibility remaining for the UW.
Babcock, the Sundodger champ two weeks ago, ran 16:32 to take the runner-up spot.
The Gonzaga women's team finished third, led by Lindsey Drake, who finished 11th in 17:13. SeattleU's top runner was Hannah Mittelstaedt in 31st in 18:11.
Up the road in Salem, Seattle Pacific senior Will Harrison finished 18th over the 8k course, leading the Falcons pack across the line for the first time since 2010, and SPU checked in fourth among the 19 teams at the 38th annual Charles Bowles / Willamette Invitational.
Seattle Pacific tallied 203 points and jumped two spots from last year's sixth-place finish. That had been the previous school best in the meet at Bush's Pasture Park. Only the University of Portland (a near-perfect 16 points), Boise State (111) and San Francisco State (129) finished ahead of the Falcons.
Among other Washington schools entered, Puget Sound was 6th with 212; Whitworth 8th at 221; Central Washington 13th at 302; and Whitman 19th with 465.
Freshman Katie Morris continued to establish herself as the front runner for the SPU women. Morris placed 15th, helping the team secure fifth place with 192 points, tops among the NCAA Division II schools in the race. Oregon State won easily with 28, followed by Boise State (96), Portland (176) and Portland State (199).
Whitworth was ninth at 271, with Central Washington 13th at 293, Whitman 14th at 295, and Puget Sound 20th with 546 points.
NOTE: Apologies for the delay in posting. Special thanks to the sports information departments of the University of Washington, University of Oregon, Seattle Pacific, and Seattle University for contributing to this report.
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