UW cross country teams open with third & fourth place finishes in Vegas Monday...
The 18th-ranked Husky men's team finished third today behind the top-two ranked teams in the NCAA, and Washington beat out No. 4-ranked Notre Dame for third-place over the 8k distance. The No. 8 women took fourth over 6k behind three ranked teams and showed off their depth, as several of Washington's top women's returners won't debut until the next time out.
Number 2 ranked BYU, led by winner Conner Mantz (22:51) took the win with 49 points over current number 1 ranked Northern Arizona's 54 points, while the Huskies were 5 points ahead of Notre Dame, 75 to 80.
Washington was led by 2018 Pac-12 cross country runner-up Talon Hull (photo by Paul Merca) who finished third in 23:02.
Behind Hull for the Dawgs were Luke Houser in 13th (23:37), Alex Slenning in 15th (23:41), Isaac Green in 19th (23:46) and Joe Waskom in 25th (23:49).
In the women's race, won by Northern Arizona's Taryn O'Neill in 19:52, the BYU Cougars, ranked number 3, took the team title with 46 points, followed by number 13 Boise State at 61, followed by number 26 Northern Arizona at 64, then the number 8 ranked Huskies with 88 points.
Haley Herberg, the 2020 MPSF 3000 meter champion indoors, led the way for the Huskies with her fifth place finish in 20:02, followed by freshman Naomi Smith one place behind in 20:05.
The other scorers were Andrea Markezich in 21st (20:54), Madison Heisterman in 26th (21:14), and Hannah Waskom in 30th (21:24).
"For them to come out and perform the way they did and be pretty close to the top two teams and beat out Notre Dame, I think it was a really good team effort. We had the best one-to-five spread, with Talon up front but the other five guys all worked really well together. To open up like that was great, which bodes well for hosting the conference in a month's time," said Husky men's head coach Andy Powell.
UW director of track and cross country Maurica Powell said, "As we are doing a hybrid of indoor and cross on the same weekend we gave some women an opportunity at each sport, then we'll circle back and put together our best team. It was a good chance to look at a few kids trying to make our lineup. Haley and Naomi did a great job, and Andrea Markezich was a nice surprise."
Of the group the Huskies took down to Las Vegas, only Madison Heisterman ran over the weekend at the UW Indoor Preview meet, after running the opening leg on the distance medley relay that took second to BYU Friday night.
For the next meet on the 19th back in Vegas, the Husky women could potentially have available sophomore Melany Smart, who was 12th at last year's NCAA cross country championships; Allie Schadler, who anchored the DMR and ran the mile at the UW Indoor Preview on Saturday; Oregon transfer Taylor Chiotti, who ran for the Ducks at last year's NCAA cross country championships; and freshman Kirstie Rae from New Zealand, who ran for her country at the World Athletics U20 cross country championships in Aarhus, Denmark two years ago.
On the men's side, the Huskies could have in their arsenal freshmen Leo Daschbach and Cruz Culpepper, along with sophomores Daniel Maton and Sam Tanner, who should be on campus shortly after a great January racing campaign in New Zealand. Tanner won the national title in the mile last Saturday, where he ran 3:54.97, which was the fastest time in the world in 2021 for one day.
The USTFCCCA will release the updated Division I national cross country rankings on Wednesday.
Washington's release is available here, while results of the Silver State Collegiate Invitational are available here.
WASHINGTON WOMEN RANKED 16TH IN USTFCCCA INDOOR COMPUTER RANKINGS...
The University of Washington women broke into the national top 25 after a solid performance in the opening UW Indoor Preview this past Friday and Saturday, as the Huskies are ranked number 16.
The Dawgs got four top 25 performances over the weekend from their distance medley relay, ranked number 2 (11:06.66); Allie Schadler's number 5 performance in the mile (4:38.08); Katie Rainsberger's number 20 performance in the mile (4:43.77); and Marlena Preigh's number 24 mark in the 800 (2:08.62).
Because of the pandemic, the USTFCCCA isn't taking marks from the 2020 season to help rank the teams.
The nation's top five women's teams in order are: Arkansas, Texas A&M, Georgia, USC, and Texas.
BYU at 9, and Oregon at 13 are the only teams from the MPSF conference ranked in the national top 25.
The men's national indoor rankings have no Washington school in the top 25, with Oregon, Arkansas, LSU, Texas Tech & Florida State the nation's top 5.
USC at 12 and BYU at 17 are the only teams from the MPSF in the top 25.
Washington State is the closest to the top 25 after last weekend at number 35, while the Huskies sit at number 37.
The Cougars' top mark is from hurdler Sam Brixey, ranked number 5 at 7.80, while Cruz Culpepper leads the way for UW with his #6 mark in the mile at 3:59.53.
The USTFCCCA release is available here.
AMY-ELOISE NEALE OPENS SEASON WITH SECOND PLACE FINISH AT VIRGINIA BEACH INVITE...
Washington alum Amy-Eloise Neale finished second in the mile at the Virginia Beach Invitational Monday.
Neale, who opened up her 2021 campaign with the intent of obtaining an Olympic qualifying standard at either 1500 or 5000 meters, ran 4:42.32, as she finished behind her Reebok Boston teammate Josette Norris, who ran 4:31.39.
The results of the Virginia Beach Invitational are available here.
NOTE: The sports information office of the University of Washington, the University of Nevada/Las Vegas, the USTFCCCA, and Flash Results, contributed to this report.
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