Husky cross country squads drop slightly in latest USTFCCCA national coaches' poll...
The Husky women’s team dropped one spot from number three to number 4, after previous number 4 BYU won the West Coast Conference in convincing fashion, and picking up a first place vote from the national voting panel of coaches.
The nation’s top five women’s teams are in order: Arkansas, Stanford, BYU, Washington, and North Carolina State.
Other teams from the Pac-12 and the West region ranked in the national top 30 include: Colorado (8), Utah (9), Boise State (13), Oregon (19), and Cal Baptist (30).
Colorado and Utah will compete in the Mountain Region championship meet a week from Friday in Salt Lake City, while the rest of the schools named above will run in the West regionals in Colfax.
On the men’s side, Washington, which was ranked number 7 going into the Pac-12 championships in Monmouth, Oregon, dropped down to number 14 in the national coaches’ poll.
Northern Arizona remains the country’s number 1 team, followed by BYU, Pac-12 champ Colorado, Pac-12 runner-up Stanford, and Iowa State.
Gonzaga, which was ranked number 29 in the previous poll, dropped out of the national top 30.
Other Pac-12 and West region teams ranked in the national top 30 include Oregon (6), UCLA (10), Portland (11), and Boise State (27).
The USTFCCCA national poll is available here.
HUSKIES’ SMART NAMED PAC-12 FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR...
The Pac-12 Conference today named University of Washington freshman Mel Smart (above/photo by Paul Merca) as its women’s cross country freshman of the year.
Smart, a native of Perth, Australia is the fourth Washington woman to garner Freshman of the Year honors, joining Tori Tyler (2005), Christine Babcock (2008) and Katie Flood (2010). Her fifth-place finish at the Championships is the best for a freshman since current Huskies’ teammate Katie Rainsberger also placed fifth in 2016.
The Pac-12 release is available here.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA and the Pac-12 Conference contributed to this report.
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