Both Husky squads hold their national rankings in latest USTFCCCA coaches poll...

Washington's Talon Hull was 12th
overall at the Battle in Beantown
on September 21st (Paul Merca photo)
NEW ORLEANS—With over a week to go before the big Wisconsin Pre-Nationals meet in Madison, the University of Washington men’s cross country team remains in the number 12 position in the latest USTFCCCA national coaches’ poll released Tuesday.

After an 11th place finish in the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational last week, the Washington State Cougars dropped two spots to number 17 in the coaches’ poll.

Northern Arizona and BYU remain the country’s top two men’s teams, followed by Wisconsin, Portland, and Stanford.

Other Pac-12 schools ranked in the men’s national top 30 include number 11 Colorado, number 13 Oregon, and number 25 UCLA.

The voters of the national poll gave Gonzaga some love, as they were among a group of 12 schools outside the top 30 that received votes.

On the women’s side, the Huskies stayed at number 16 after a third place finish at last weekend’s Stanford Invitational.

The nation’s top five teams are Colorado, Boise State, New Mexico, Oregon, and Stanford.

Utah is the only other Pac-12 school ranked in the national top 30 at number 27.

The USTFCCCA national poll is available here.

SEATTLE UNIVERSITY ADDS COACHES TO ITS STAFF…

Seattle U’s cross country and track and field teams announced the addition of several new assistant coaches to their staff, joining head coach Kelly Sullivan and assistant coaches Chad Pharis and Tyler King in lending their expertise to a rapidly expanding program.

“We are very excited about our new coaching additions,” Sullivan said. “This last year, Chad, Tyler and I, as well as current members of the team, worked very hard on building the 2018-19 recruiting class. In the end, we had 33 incoming freshmen and transfers – at that point, we knew that we needed to add more coaches to the programs.”

Clara Nichols joins Seattle U as an assistant coach for cross country and distance events.  She recently moved to the area from Stillwater, Okla., where she competed for Oklahoma State University’s track and cross country programs, qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 800m run.

Tony Monroe will work with Pharis on the sprints, jumps, hurdles and relays. His career spans more than 26 years, most recently working as the jumps coach at Eastern Washington University.

Carey Campbell joins the Redhawks as a throwing coach, and will be working with new volunteer assistant coach Zaquita “Zee” McClanahan. In their undergraduate careers, Campbell led his team as a hammer and shot put specialist at the University of Washington, while McClanahan, shot put record-holder for the University of Texas San Antonio, placed in the top four at the 2013 Western Athletic Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships.

Sullivan said, “Our goal is to surround these young student-athletes with the most positive coaches and mentors that we can. I definitely feel that this staff and this university offers them that.”

Seattle University’s release is available here.

NOTE:  The USTFCCCA and the sports information office at Seattle University contributed to this report.

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