UW women move up two spots from pre-season USTFCCCA cross country poll...
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| Washington's Sophie O'Sullivan & Carley Thomas at last year's Nuttycombe Invitational (Paul Merca photo) |
NEW ORLEANS--The University of Washington women's cross country team moved up two spots in the first official ranking of the season released by the USTFCCCA Tuesday afternoon.
The Huskies moved from number 15 in the pre-season poll that was released on August 30th to number 13.
The top five Division I women's teams are in order: North Carolina State, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, and Colorado.
Pac-12 teams ranked in the national top 30 include number 7 Oregon, number 9 Stanford, number 17 Oregon State, and number 24 Utah.
On the men's side, the Huskies remain at number 18 in the national poll, despite not having run a meet so far this season.
Gonzaga, which was voted in the pre-season poll at number 30, actually dropped out of the national top 30, perhaps as a result of finishing second at the Cougar Classic last week to Washington State in Colfax, despite running essentially a B squad.
The nation's top 5 teams remain the same as voted by the coaches in the pre-season poll are, in order: Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State, BYU, Stanford, and Wisconsin.
Other Pac-12 teams in the national top 30 include number 7 Colorado, and number 15 Oregon.
Portland at number 9 is the only school in the West Coast Conference ranked with Gonzaga out of the top 30.
Washington opens its season Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia at the Virginia Challenge on the same Panorama Farms course that will host the NCAA championships on November 18th. The Gonzaga men's squad runs at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis on Friday, hosted by the University of Minnesota.
ELITE PRO SEASON ENDS SUNDAY WITH DIAMOND LEAGUE FINALS IN EUGENE...
In Eugene on Sunday, Washington alum Gianna Woodruff finished seventh in the 400 hurdles at the Wanda Diamond League finals at the Nike Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field, as the elite professional season came to a roaring close in the first Diamond League finals meet contested outside of Europe.
Woodruff ran 54.95 as Femke Bol of the Netherlands won in a meet record 51.98.
In the men's 3000, Washington alum Brian Fay was ninth in 7:54.73, as Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway won his second race of the meet, running a world leading and Diamond League record 7:23.63 to nose out former Nike Oregon Project runner Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia by 1/100th of a second.
Sunday's competition included two world records set by Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia in the women's 5000, as she narrowly missed becoming the first woman to break 14 minutes, running 14:00.21.
The other world record was set by pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, as he soared 20-5.25 (6.23m) to eclipse his former outdoor record of 20-4.25 (6.21m) set at Hayward Field at the world championships, and his absolute record of 20-4.75 (6.22m) set in February indoors in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA, the sports information office of the University of Washington, and the Wanda Diamond League contributed to this report.
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