Stevens wins Sundodger men's invitational race as Dawgs roll without their top three...
SEATTLE—No Colby Gilbert? No Fred Huxham? No Andrew Gardner?
The answer to that question was a resounding no problem as Washington’s Johnathan Stevens (left/photo by Paul Merca) picked up the slack to record the victory at the Sundodger Invitational Saturday at Seattle’s Lincoln Park.
Stevens and teammate Mahmoud Moussa led the race for the first three laps of the Lincoln Park course before pulling away to the victory over 8km in 24:12, two seconds ahead of freshman Talon Hull, who did not run in a Husky uniform, but competed unattached.
In third was another freshman competing unattached, Tibebu Proctor, who ran 24:21, followed by Moussa in 24:26. Julius Diehr of the Dawgs rounded out the top five in 24:33.
The only non-Husky to break into the top ten was Eastern Washington’s Colton Johnsen in tenth at 24:46.
Matt Seidel was Seattle University’s first runner across the line in 15th place, clocking 25:10.
The Dawgs scored a perfect 15 points to win the 4-team invitational race with Eastern Washington second with 62 points, and Seattle University third with 75 points. Portland State rounded out the field with 94 points.
While not quite as dominating a performance as the men, the #13 Husky women’s team took care of business in the 6k invitational race, led by reigning Pac-12 and NCAA west regional champion Amy-Eloise Neale, who won in 20:30, with Creighton’s Emily Martin second in 20:35.
The Huskies’ Izzi Batt-Doyle was third in 20:40, followed by Oregon State's Juliana Mount at 20:45, with UW's Emily Hamlin fifth in 20:53.
The next four places were split between Huskies in uniform (Anna Maxwell in 6th in 20:54, and freshman Allie Schadler in 8th at 20:56), and unattached Dawgs Nikki Zielinski in 7th (20:55), and Camila David-Smith in 9th (21:09).
Oregon State’s Holly Cavalluzzo finished tenth in 21:13.
With all five scorers in the top eight, Washington cruised to a low score of 22 points, followed by Oregon State’s 66 points, followed by Nevada at 72, and Creighton at 84.
Eastern Washington was fifth with 113, led by Kaili Keefe’s 18th place finish at 21:40, while Seattle University was sixth with 182 points, led by Olivia Stein’s 20th place finish in 21:44.
The open women’s 6k was won by Washington State alum Ruby Roberts, who bided her time before moving over the final lap to win in 21:11, one second ahead of Southern Oregon’s Jesse Perkinson.
Kayla Leland of Whitworth was seventh in 21:38, while Alexa Shindruk of Central Washington, the winner of last week’s triangular with Western and Saint Martin’s, was tenth at 21:53.
With seven teams from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference competing, plus nationally ranked Point Loma making the trip north from California, the open section of the Sundodger was an early season measuring stick for those teams looking to be around at the end of the season.
Simon Fraser, ranked number 7 in the USTFCCCA women’s poll won the open women’s team title with 42 points, followed by Point Loma with 55 points, which could see them break into the national top 25.
Seattle Pacific was third with 132 points, led by Dania Holmberg’s 23rd place finish in 22:25.
Western Washington, which held out several of its top runners as they prepare for next week’s Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota, was fifth with 166 points, led by Jane Barr’s 24th place finish in 22:25.
Division III Whitworth was 6th with 173, followed by Central Washington in seventh with 200 points. Puget Sound was eighth with 254 points to round out Washington D2 and D3 schools in the top ten in the 20-team field.
Canadians dominated the open men’s 8k race, grabbing six of the top ten spots, but it was Pacific Lutheran’s Brad Hodkinson taking the victory in 24:25, as the NCAA Division III All-American cruised to a nine-second win over Nick Colyn of Vancouver’s Trinity Western University.
Trinity Western, the reigning Canada West cross country champions, won the Sundodger with a low score of 46 points to Simon Fraser’s 69 points, which held off defending NAIA national champs Southern Oregon by one.
Western Washington was fourth with 122 points, led by Andrew Wise’s 19th place finish in 25:30.
Central Washington was eighth with 259 points, led by Josh Boston in 60th place in 26:08. Seattle Pacific rounded out the Washington D2 & D3 schools in tenth with 275 points, led by Ben Halliday’s 12th place finish in 25:16.
In Spokane, former Husky Sumner Goodwin led Gonzaga to a 20-39 dual meet victory over Idaho over the 8k course around the Mead HS athletic complex.
Goodwin won in a time of 24:33, beating out teammates Jake Perrin and Kyle Thompson, who both ran 24:35.
In the women’s 5k race, Andrea Condie of Idaho was the winner in a time of 17:47, with Gonzaga’s Jordan Thurston second in 18:07.
The Vandals won the dual by a 19-44 count, as Idaho got all seven counting scorers in the top eight, with only Thurston breaking up the Idaho pack.
Complete results of the Idaho/Gonzaga dual, along with Gonzaga’s recap, are available here.
KELSEY QUINN NAMED OPERATIONS DIRECTOR AT UW
While it hasn’t been formally announced by the school, Kelsey Quinn is the newest addition to the Washington track and field staff, as she is the new operations director, replacing Megan Morgan, who took a position in the private sector.
Quinn comes from Warner Pacific in Portland, where she was the head track and cross country coach for the Knights.
Before Warner Pacific, she was an assistant coach at Grand View University in Iowa. Quinn was a standout sprinter and hurdler at the University of Iowa.
NOTE: The University of Washington, the PNTF Officials, Gonzaga University and Warner Pacific University contributed to this report.
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