Washington women jump to number 8 in post-conference championship coaches' poll...
NEW ORLEANS--Fresh off of winning their third Pac-12 title and first since going back-to-back in 2008-2009, the Washington women's cross country team jumped from number 19 to number 8 in the latest USTFCCCA Division I national coaches poll released Tuesday.
In their narrow 58-60 victory over the Cardinal on Friday at the Pac-12 cross country championships at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, the Huskies, led by Sophie O'Sullivan (Paul Merca photo) beat three nationally ranked teams ahead of them in the previous poll released on October 17th: number 5 Stanford, number 9 Oregon State, and number 14 Oregon.
Meanwhile, Gonzaga, which was ranked number 28 entering last Saturday's West Coast Conference championship meet in Malibu, was bumped out of the national top 30 after losing to Portland by a 40-46 margin.
After the conference championship meet, previously unranked Portland is the only WCC squad in the national top 30 at number 30.
The nation's top five teams are in order: Northern Arizona, North Carolina State, BYU, Georgetown, and Oklahoma State.
Other Pac-12 schools in the national top 30 are: Stanford at number 7, Oregon at number 12, number 13 Colorado, number 17 Oregon State, number 20 Utah.
On the men's side, Washington, which was out of the national top 30 after a sub-par performance at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin two weeks ago, moved back in as the country's number 22 team in the coaches' poll.
The Huskies finished a strong second in the Pac-12 championships on Friday after adding the last two NCAA 1500 meter champions in Joe Waskom and Nathan Green, who were held out of the first two meets of the season at Virginia and Wisconsin. They also added Camas native Evan Jenkins, who did not make the trip to Wisconsin, but ran in the season opener in Virginia.
Green, who finished third, and Jenkins, who placed tenth Friday, earned valuable low sticks for the Dawgs, who finished second in the team race behind Stanford by a 41-50 margin.
Despite winning its first ever West Coast Conference crown on Saturday, by a 44-56 count over the University of Portland, the Zags' performance was not enough to give the voters a reason to put Gonzaga back in the national top 30.
The nation's top five men's teams, are in order: Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State, BYU, Cal Baptist and a tie for fifth between North Carolina and Wisconsin.
Other Pac-12 teams ranked in the national top 30 include number 10 Stanford, number 23 Colorado, and number 26 Oregon.
No West Coast Conference teams are in the national top 30.
The NCAA West regional meet is Friday November 10th in Sacramento, California.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA contributed to this report.
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