Freshman Melany Smart leads Huskies at McNichols Invitational in Terre Haute...

TERRE HAUTE, Indiana—Coming off a three week stint of altitude training in Colorado Springs, the third ranked University of Washington women’s cross country team finished third at the John McNichols Invitational Saturday morning at the Lavern Gibson Championship course, site of the  NCAA championships in November.

The Huskies were led by freshman Melany Smart (left/photo courtesy University of Washington) from Perth, Australia, who finished fifth in a time of 16:43. Smart, who won the Australian U20 championship this season in the 5000 meters, was the only freshman on the team that director of track and field & cross country Maurica Powell raced, with the rest being upperclassmen.

Following Smart was All-American Katie Rainsberger, who finished eighth in 16:51.

After that were All-American Lilli Burdon in 16th in 17:18, followed by Allie Schadler in 18th in 17:20, and Camila David-Smith in 20th in 17:28 to round out Washington’s five scorers. In the race, the Huskies had a gap of 45 seconds from its first to its fifth scorer across the line, which is quite encouraging for its first true test of the season.

Taylor Werner of Arkansas was the overall winner in 16:25 to lead the number 5 ranked Razorbacks to the team title with 49 points, just ahead of number 8 Stanford’s 54 points, with the Huskies third at 66 points.

The Washington women will next race on October 4th at the Joe Piane Invitational hosted by Notre Dame, with others staying home to compete in the John Payne/Curtis Invitational the next day at Chambers Bay GC in University Place outside Tacoma, the site of next year’s NCAA West Regionals.

Complete results of the John McNichols Invitational are available here.

NOTE: The University of Washington sports information office contributed to this report.