Huskies' Allie Schadler bounces back from fall to earn All-America XC honors...
Teammate Haley Herberg, fresh off her upset win at the Pac-12 championship race ten days ago, did exactly the same thing and immediately went to the front, leading a pack of 14 runners through the first two kilometers in 6:29.
However, the combination of a course that many observers felt was significantly tougher than the last three sites that hosted the national championships--Terre Haute, Indiana, Madison, Wisconsin & Louisville, Kentucky--and the 18 mile per hour winds that gusted throughout the course of the race, pushed Herberg, and a number of front runners back.
Schadler stayed just off the front pack and was in the mid-20s for the majority of the race, crossing the line in 26th in 20:44 to earn her first cross country All-America certificate.
Freshman Naomi Smith, who was in All-America (top 40) contention for the first half of the race, finished 53rd with a time of 21:05, one second ahead of Herberg, who finished 55th.
Rounding out the Husky scorers were Camila David-Smith, who was 131st in 21:45, and Madison Heisterman in 151st in a time of 21:53. Heisterman, along with Schadler and sixth Husky finisher Kelly Makin (194th, 22:23), all ran over the weekend at the NCAA indoor champs in Fayetteville.
"I'm really proud of these women and the way they dug in for each other and tried to help their team however they could," said Washington director of track/cross country Maurica Powell. "We had three women today who raced within 48 hours at indoor track and so to be split over two meets in one weekend, we did well with what we had. Kelly Makin and Madi Heisterman raced six weeks straight in indoors or cross. Madi just hit the wall hard with 300-meters to go today and ran to complete exhaustion, but she gave life to finish for her team and we're really proud of her."
Powell was pleased with the way Schadler bounced back from the disappointment of having her indoor championship experience spoiled and rallying for her team today.
"What Allie showed today is she has a completely different mindset this year," said Powell. "She sees herself as one of the best in the NCAA and it was unfortunate she fell on Saturday because she was in a good position to take a shot at it. She could have been an emotional basket case and hung her head the last two days but she kept it up and ran hard for her team and had a great outcome."
One of the biggest surprises on the day was the performance by former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell, who transferred to Oregon State to be closer to home. Mitchell finished 20th in 20:39 to earn a Division I All-America certificate.
Among athletes with Washington ties, Edmonds/Woodway HS grad Yukino Parle of Boise State was 94th in 21:29. Erin Mullins of Washington State was 123rd in 21:42, three seconds ahead of Gonzaga's Kristen Garcia in 129th place.
Camas HS grad Emma Jenkins of Portland was 176th in 22:09, two places ahead of former Seattle Pacific standout Alyssa Foote in the same time.
Mercy Chelangat of Alabama won the women's individual crown in a time of 20:02, just ahead of Oklahoma State's Taylor Roe, a product of Lake Stevens High School, who ran 20:07, a few nights after anchoring OSU to a fourth place finish in the distance medley relay.
Brigham Young took the team title with a low score of 96 points, well ahead of North Carolina State's 161. Pac-12 champ Stanford, who was among the favorites for the team title, was third with 207, followed by Michigan State at 212.
ROUGH GO FOR BOTH HUSKIES AND BULLDOGS...
The course was tough on both the 10th ranked Washington Huskies, and the 14th ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs, as the Huskies finished 25th with 568 points and the Zags finished 27th in the 30 team field with 591 points.
Washington was led by redshirt freshman Luke Houser's 51st place finish in 31:02 over the 10k course. He was followed by Isaac Green in 104th place in 31:35.
Joe Waskom was the third runner across the finish for the Huskies, placing 145th in 32:09, followed by Isaac Mohn in 167th in 32:24. True freshman Leo Daschbach rounded out the scorers in 199th at 32:50.
Gonzaga, making its first ever appearance at the NCAA championship meet as a team, was led by Yacine Guemali's 55th place finish in 31:03. Peter Hogan was 79th in 31:17, followed by Evan Bates in 134th in 32:10.
Dominic Arce was 211th in 33:09, and Wil Smith was the final scorer in 217th at 33:19.
2018 All-American Tibebu Proctor of the Huskies dropped out with a medical issue with less than 1k to go, and James Mwaura of Gonzaga, making his second national championship appearance, finished 225th in 33:45.
"The guys started well and were in the top-10 early and I think we competed hard," said UW men's coach Andy Powell. "Tibs dropped out with a medical issue and was unable to complete the race. He's doing fine now, but that made it tough. Luke Houser was a solid front runner for us and without Tibs there this is a really young group. So we got some much needed experience without burning eligibility and I think this can be a top-10 team in the fall if we learn from this."
Among athletes with Washington ties who competed included Bradley Peloquin from Gig Harbor, who finished 163rd for the University of Portland in 32:23, and Jonas Price of Eisenhower/Yakima, who was 186th in 32:39 for host Oklahoma State.
BYU's Conner Mantz, who had the fastest collegiate time in the 5000 meters indoors but skipped the indoor championships in Fayetteville in order to help the Cougars repeat as national champions, won the individual title, running 29:27 to become the first American to win the NCAA title since Oregon's Galen Rupp won in 2008.
However, Northern Arizona got payback after being beaten by BYU in 2019, placing four runners in the top nine to win by a 60-87 margin over second place Notre Dame. Host Oklahoma State finished third with 142, and Arkansas was fourth with 181. Pac-12 champ Stanford, which was looking for a top-4 podium position, finished fifth with 194 points.
The 2021 NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held in November in Tallahassee, Florida with Florida State University the host school.
Complete results of the 2020 NCAA Cross Country Championships are available here.
NOTE: The sports information office of Oklahoma State University, University of Washington, Gonzaga University; and Prime Time Timing contributed to this report.
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