Lake Stevens native Taylor Roe takes third at Nuttycombe Invite; Zags are for real in men's race...

MADISON, Wisconsin--Lake Stevens HS graduate Taylor Roe (#1905, Paul Merca photo) of Oklahoma State finished third in the women's championship race at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course to highlight Washington athletes and teams competing in one of the most competitive collegiate cross country races so far this season.

Roe,  the runner up at the 2020 NCAA cross country championships contested in March on her home course in Stillwater, was part of a large group of athletes through the 4000 meter mark, leading the pack at 13:38 with ten athletes close by in the front.

Over the last two kilometers, the field was whittled down to three, with Ceili McCabe of West Virgina moving two spots on the final 300 meter climb to take the win in 19:58, and Kelsey Chmiel of  North Carolina State taking second in 20:01, with Roe finishing third in 20:02.

"I think (Taylor) did a really good job," Oklahoma State coach and Olympia native Dave Smith said. "I think she was aggressive when she needed to be… There was a point there at about 5K where she put in a move that looked like she was going to break the race open… But I think she had second thoughts and I think that gave the people behind her some hope and helped a couple girls out-kick her."

The Washington Huskies, who went into the meet as the seventh-ranked team in the USTFCCCA D1 national poll, had a sub-par performance, finishing 15th with 463 points, the top Pac-12 team in the field.

Defending Pac-12 champ Haley Herberg led the charge for the Huskies in 49th, running 20:56.

Following Herberg, second-year freshman Naomi Smith was 71st in 21:08. Sophie Cantine was the third Husky in 103rd-place in 21:19 and Allie Schadler was one second behind her in 106th. The top-five was rounded out by Anna Gibson who placed 140th in 21:33. Freshman Julia David-Smith was 175th and Madison Heisterman placed 191st.

UW director Maurica Powell said, "The women didn't perform well today, we did a poor job in managing attitude and effort, the two things we can control."  "If we can get a better handle on those, we can reach our potential -- we didn't reach it today."

The Gonzaga women, led by a 50th-place finish overall from Kristen Garcia with a time of 20:56, took 21st overall in the most competitive field they've ever raced against. 

Garcia rose 12 spots over the final 2000 meters to crack the top 50, followed by Sadie Tuckwood (87th, 21:13), Elisabeth Danis (114th, 21:24), Rosina Machu (143rd, 21:36), and Alicia Anderson (145th, 21:37).

"Unquestionably the best regular season meet in program history," said Bulldog women's coach Jake Stewart. "Our ladies ran a really mature race. We had a game plan and we executed it.

Nemma Kimtai was the top performer for the WSU women, as the freshman clocked in a time of 21:11. She placed 80th in the race. 

Freshman Alaina Stone Boggs was the next Coug finish, completing the course in 21:30 to place 131st overall. The next Cougar to cross the finish line was sophomore Caroline Jerotich, who turned in a time of 21:59 to finish in 192nd place.

Senior Pia Richards and junior Zorana Grujic rounded out the team scoring for Washington State. Richards finished in 22:09 to place 202nd overall, while Grujic posted a time of 22:31 to conclude the race in 228th place.

Number 3 New Mexico took the team title in the women's 6k race, collecting 93 points.

ZAGS PROVE THEY'RE THE REAL DEAL...

From a national perspective, 19th ranked Gonzaga picked the right time for its national coming-out party, as the Bulldogs finished seventh with 273 points against a stacked field in the men's 8k championship race.

Wil Smith and James Mwaura (#2193, Paul Merca photo) led the Zag men with 11th and 14th-place individual marks — good for a seventh-place team finish that knocked off 10 teams ranked in the most recent USTFCCA polls, including six ranked above them. Smith crossed the finish line in 23:38.

Olympic Trials competitor James Mwaura was three spots behind in 23:39.

The Zags were one of only three programs with two men's runners in the top 15, joining second-place Stanford, fourth-place Wisconsin and sixth-place Oregon — all without experienced veteran Yacine Guermali, who finished third overall at Dellinger but was out with injury for this race.

Behind Smith & Mwaura, Cullen McEachern was 51st in 24:04, followed by Kyle Radosevich in 71st at 24:14. 

Riley Moore in 126th rounded out the scorers in 24:42.

The Huskies finished 14th with 402 points, led by Kieran Lund, a former Canadian collegiate cross country champion at the University of British Columbia making his UW debut.

Lund crossed the line in 44th place in 24:00. Second-year freshman Leo Daschbach was nine seconds back in 61st-place, followed by Luke Houser who was 74th in 24:16. Joe Waskom was the fourth Husky in 105th-place in 24:33, and Tibebu Proctor finished the scoring in 122nd-place in 24:38.

Washington State did not have a complete team, as they had a number of runners drop out.

Felix Wammetsberger led the way for Cougs, placing 97th out of 227 runners. The senior completed the course in a season-best 24:29.

Freshmen Kelvin Limo was the next Coug to cross the finish line, clocking in at 24:59 to earn a 153rd-place finish. Senior Kennan Schrag closed out the Washington State finishers in 190th with a time of 25:28.

No. 6-ranked Iowa State took home first place as a team with 88 points. The Cyclone's Wesley Kiptoo was the first runner to finish the 8k race with a time of 23.12, winning by nine seconds over Oregon's Cooper Teare at 23:21, with Charles Hicks of Stanford third in 23:22

Complete results of the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational are available here.

NOTE: The University of Wisconsin, along with the sports information offices of Oklahoma State, Washington, Washington State, and Gonzaga contributed to this report.

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