WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Huskies' Rainsberger and Neal finish top 5 at Stanford; Central's Shindruk fourth at Charles Bowles Invite...
The Huskies were led by a pair in the top five, with Katie Rainsberger finishing second, and Kaitlyn Neal (left/file photo by Paul Merca) finishing in fifth.
This was the first real race effort for UW after it ran prescribed paces at the Sundodger Invitational three weeks ago. The Dawgs put ten women on the starting line today, five of which were getting their first real racing in as Huskies.
That includes Rainsberger, who showed the form that earned her top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championships the past two Novembers while running at Oregon. Rainsberger covered the 6,000-meter course in 20:39 to finish second, as Stanford All-American Elise Cranny won in 20:32.
Neal made her season debut in impressive fashion with a fifth-place effort in 21:01. Senior Emily Hamlin and sophomore Allie Schadler finished close together, Hamlin in 20th in 21:35 and Schadler in 21:36 for 21st-place. The fifth Husky finisher to cap the scoring was junior Nikki Zielinski in 45th in 22:15.
UW Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Maurica Powell thought it was a good first effort for the Dawgs. "We had a solid day out there. Good first real competitive effort for Katie and a good opener for Kaitlin. The top four did a really nice job working together.”
Third-ranked Stanford got the team win with 62 points and Adams State, the No. 1-ranked team in the D-II poll, was second with 69 points while the Dawgs placed third with 90 points in the nineteen-team field.
Washington has next weekend off before they travel with the men’s team to Madison, Wisconsin for the Pre-Nationals meet.
Complete results of the Stanford Invitational are available here.
In Salem, Oregon, Central Washington’s Alexa Shindruk was the first Division II runner across the line with her fourth place finish at the Charles Bowles Invitational hosted by Willamette University Saturday at Bush’s Pasture Park.
Shindruk, an NCAA qualifier on the track last year for the Wildcats in the 10000, ran 17:21 for the 5000m distance, as Kristie Schoffield of Boise State won in 17:11.
Her Wildcats finished eighth in the team standings with 227 points, while Seattle Pacific finished as the first NCAA D2 team in the 22-team field in fourth place with 140 points.
The Falcons had three runners—Kaylee Mitchell (17:25 for 7th), Kate Lilly (17:49 for 21st), and Dania Holmberg (18:00 in 24th) at 18:00 or better in the race.
Boise State won the women’s team title with 30 points.
In the men’s 8k race, Central Washington was the top NCAA Division II school in the 19-team field, as the Wildcats finished fifth with 212 points, while Seattle Pacific finished seventh with 238 points.
Central Washington was led by Corbin Carlton, who finished 25th in 25:23, while Seattle Pacific was led by Colby Otero in 22nd at 25:18.
Andrew Raffa of Boise State was the overall winner in 24:10, as he led the Broncos to the team title with 37 points, with Portland second at 46 points.
Complete results of the Charles Bowles Invitational are available here.
NOTE: The University of Washington, Stanford University, Seattle Pacific University, Central Washington University and Willamette University contributed to this report.
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