Huskies and Cougars to go head-to-head at Wisconsin Pre-Nationals Saturday...
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| Washington's Nick Laccinole (l) and Julius Diehr race at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin last year. The Huskies return to Wisconsin Saturday (Paul Merca photo) |
The meet will be significant for the various teams converging upon Madison, as this will give teams the opportunity to run on the same course that will host the NCAA cross country championships on November 17th.
Both the Washington and Washington State’s men’s and women’s teams will run head-to-head against each other in the White section of the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals.
The meet consists of two evenly-seeded races (Cardinal and White), with each race consisting of 35 teams with an equal number of nationally ranked teams in each race.
In the opening women’s Cardinal 6k race at 10 am local time (8 am, Pacific), number 1 ranked Colorado headlines the field, along with #4 Oregon, #23 Portland, and Portland State. Pac-12 members Arizona, Cal, and UCLA are also in the Cardinal race.
The women’s White race at 10:45 am (8:45 am Pacific) that the #16 ranked Huskies and the unranked Cougars are in, features defending national champion and #3 ranked New Mexico, along with #5 Stanford, #8 Wisconsin, #10 Michigan, #12 Furman, along with Pac-12 member USC.
The men’s Cardinal 8k race at 11:30 am (9:30 am Pacific) has the Bulldogs of Gonzaga and their outstanding freshman James Mwaura in his first meaningful race against national caliber competition.
Among the teams the Zags will face are defending national champion and #1 ranked Northern Arizona, #3 Wisconsin, #5 Stanford, #9 Colorado State, #11 Colorado, #13 Oregon, and #15 Southern Utah.
Pac-12 schools in the field include Arizona State and Cal.
In the men’s White race at 12:15 pm (10:15 am, Pacific), both the Huskies and Cougars, who are ranked #12 and #17 in the USTFCCCA coaches poll, face #2 BYU, #4 Portland, #8 Syracuse, #9 Purdue, #10 Air Force, and #25 UCLA, along with Arizona from the Pac-12.
Media partner Flotrack ($) will offer live streaming coverage of the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals.
The complete fields for the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals are available here, while the preliminary individual entries are available here.
paulmerca.blogspot.com will have on-site coverage of the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals.
NOTE: The University of Wisconsin contributed to this report.
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