Hail doesn't bother Gonzaga & Washington in final prep for Nuttycombe Invite in Madison...
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| Wil Smith (knit cap), Cullen McEachern (shorts) & Yacine Guermali (far right) lead Gonzaga while doing strides (Paul Merca photo) |
MADISON, Wisconsin--Both the nationally ranked University of Washington and Gonzaga University squads were out in force at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in nearby Verona to preview the venue for Friday's Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational early Thursday morning.
The Nuttycombe is perhaps the biggest invitational meet in NCAA Division I in terms of the quality of the field.
Thirty-six teams are competing in the women's race. Out of those 36 teams, 24 of them are ranked in the top 30 for United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Coaches' Poll, including Washington, while Gonzaga looks to get back in the national top 30 after being there earlier in the season. Thirty-five teams are in the men's race including both GU & UW, with 19 teams ranked top 30 in the NCAA Division 1. For both the men's and women's races, eight teams are ranked in the top 10.
Both teams were hit with light traces of hail & temperatures that dropped to the mid-40 degree mark as they concluded their course inspection. Friday's race is expected to reach 50 degrees by the time of the final race of the day at 1 pm, local time.
Despite the temperature drop, the course was in excellent conditions for Friday's four races: the women's B race 6k at 11 am local time (9:00 am Pacific time), the men's B 8k race at 11:40 local time (9:40 am Pacific time), the women's championship 6k race at 12:20 pm (10:20 am Pacific), and the men's championship 8k at 1:00 pm (11:00 am Pacific).
While Wisconsin head coach Mick Byrne bemoans the size of the meet and how it takes an oversized role in the NCAA championship qualifying process, he understands the importance of the meet when it comes to generating excitement for the sport.
“There is a lot of hype surrounding it, for better or worse,” Byrne said. “From a spectators’ point of view and marketing our sport, it’s fantastic. People are talking about it on social media, the national rankings are bound to change and it has really taken on this whole persona of its own".
“One of the best things about this meet is that people understand head-to-head competition. Every coach is going to run a full team and race hard. There is no hiding out there.”
With the exception of Washington State, who is going instead to Stillwater, Oklahoma for Saturday's NCAA Pre-Nationals meet, and Cal, the four other schools from the Pac-12 North--Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, and Stanford--are all here.
The three major contenders for the West Coast Conference championship--BYU, Portland, and Gonzaga, are here as well.
Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will have live streaming coverage of the Nuttycombe Invitational, while live results are available here.
NOTE: The sports information office of the University of Washington, Gonzaga University, the University of Wisconsin and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.
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