The road to the NCAA cross country championships ends Saturday outside Madison, Wisconsin...
Both University of Washington cross country squads will toe the line for Saturday’s race, which gets underway at 8:45 am pacific (10:45 am local time) with the women’s 6k race, and the men’s 10k race one hour later.
The forecast for Saturday’s race is for temperatures in the low 30s, with a 30 percent chance of precipitation. Madison is expected to get some snow Friday night.
The Husky men head into the final meet ranked #6 nationally, their highest ranking in the history of the poll. The women also go into NCAAs with a season-high ranking of #14. The only time both Husky teams finished in the top-10 at nationals in the same season was 2015, when the men placed eighth and the women were tenth.
On the men’s side, three different runners have crossed the line first for the team this season: senior Tanner Anderson (Battle In Beantown and Regionals), Tibebu Proctor (Pre-Nationals, at the same course that hosts NCAAs), and Talon Hull (Pac-12 Championships, where he was the runner-up), but the end result in the team standings have been second-place finishes every time out.
The pack mentality has been a common theme for the Huskies this season, as their 1-5 split (time from the first to the fifth runner across the line) has been 28 seconds (Battle in Beantown), 34 seconds (Wisconsin Pre Nationals), 22 seconds (Pac-12s), and a season best 20 seconds (West Regionals), despite the extra 2k (all other races except regionals were over 8k).
First year Head Coach of the men's team, Andy Powell, said, "I'm really happy with everything they've done so far, it's been a great experience, and they seem to have gotten better each day.I think they'll approach it exactly the same as they have every other meet. If they do that, they'll be successful."
In contrast to the men’s team’s interchangeable top runner, Katie Rainsberger has led the Huskies across the line in every meet this season.
The two time cross country All-American is shooting for her third career honor after placing 4th and 16th in the previous two seasons competing for Oregon.
After their fourth place finish at the regionals, Husky program director Maurica Powell was especially pleased with the performances of sophomore Allie Schadler and redshirt frosh Shona McCullough. Their finishes along with those of upperclassmen Emily Hamlin and Oregon transfer Lilli Burdon, have helped offset the loss of Kaitlyn Neal.
This is the fourth NCAA trip in the last five seasons for the Husky men and their 15th overall. The women have the fourth-longest consecutive NCAA qualifying streak in the country as they are making their 12th-straight appearance, and their 20th in the past 22 years. It's the 25th all-time appearance for the women.
In addition to the Huskies, several runners with Washington ties are entered, with the most notable being West regional champ Nick Hauger from Spokane, representing the University of Portland.
Hauger earned an All-America spot in last year’s race, where he finished 26th.
Other former All-Americans with Washington ties competing include Spokane’s John Dressel from Colorado, and Edmonds’ Miler Haller, competing for Boise State.
Also listed as entered are Logan Orndorf (Cedarcrest) and Courtney Cox (Walla Walla) for the University of Portland; Jack Yearian (Bellarmine Prep) of Oregon; and Keegan McCormick (Kamiakin), Alexis Fuller (Camas), and Malia Pivek (Lynnwood) of Boise State. Teams do not have to declare their final entries until they check in at the line.
Media partner Flotrack ($) will provide a live stream of the race with a subscription. The link to live results is available here, while the University of Washington’s meet preview is available here.
paulmerca.blogspot.com will be on site in Madison for coverage of the NCAA cross country championships.
NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin, the USTFCCCA, and the NCAA provided material for this report.
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