Wil Smith & Olivia Markezich race to top ten finishes at Nuttycombe in wet Wisconsin...
EDITORS NOTE: Apologies for the delay in posting. We are posting this in Seattle after traveling from Madison due to technical issues beyond our control.
MADISON, Wisconsin—On an absolutely wet, windy, and downright miserable morning of racing at the Nuttycombe Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course, Gonzaga’s Wil Smith (Paul Merca photo) was the highlight of the day, as he finished ninth in the men’s 8k race.
Smith went out with the lead group, getting as high as 6th at the 4k mark, before dropping to 15th with 2k to go.
However, he rallied over the final 2k to get himself inside the top ten with his ninth place finish in a time of 23:33.
Behind Smith were Bryce Cerkowniak in 109th place in 24:25, followed by Drew Kolodge in 121st in 24:29. The final two scorers for the Zags were Cooper Laird in 167th at 24:50, and Paul Talens in193rd at 25:00, as Gonzaga finished 26th with 592 points.
"By far the biggest race of the season other than the NCAA Championships in November, and Wil (Smith) may be in a great place to earn first team All-American," Gonzaga head coach Pat Tyson said. "He may be the best Gonzaga runner to compete at Nuttycombe in program history".
"We came out here without a couple of our big runners in Evan (Bates) and Kyle (Radosevich), but still competed and beat a few teams. We had a little toughness talk afterwards, and the bottom line is we have to find another way."
One place behind the 23rd ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs was unranked Washington, who were without the last two NCAA 1500m champs in Joe Waskom and Nathan Green for a second straight meet, along with Evan Jenkins, who ran at Virginia three weeks ago.
NCAA indoor mile champ Luke Houser led the way for UW in 16th in 23:45. He was followed by Leo Daschbach in 93rd in 24:22, then Tyrone Gorze in 138th at 24:37. Jamar Distel followed in 159th at 24:45, then James Crabtree was UW’s final scorer in 218th at 25:10, giving them a final score of 612.
Walla Walla native Kenneth Rooks, the reigning NCAA and USA steeplechase champion representing Brigham Young University, was 31st in 23:59, as the Cougars’ third scorer.
Graham Blanks of Harvard won the individual title in 23:24, while defending national champion Northern Arizona won the team title with 76 points.
WOMEN'S RECAP...
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| Woodinville native Olivia Markezich of Notre Dame finished ninth (Paul Merca photo) |
In the first race of the day, the Washington women finished 13th with 383 points over the 6k course.
The Huskies were led by Chloe Foerster, who finished 40th in 20:39. Julia David-Smith was their second runner in 50th in 20:44. Sophie O’Sullivan was 65th in 20:52, followed by India Weir in 113th at 21:12, and Tori Herman 119th at 21:18.
Olivia Markezich, the NCAA steeplechase champion from Woodinville running for Notre Dame, finished ninth in 20:03, while twin sister Andrea was 88th in 20:58.
Florida’s Parker Valby won the individual title in 19:18, while Northern Arizona won the women’s team title with 52 points.
For Washington and Gonzaga, the page turns to the conference championship meets in two weeks, with Gonzaga heading to Malibu for the West Coast Conference meet, and the Huskies hosting the final Pac-12 championships at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place.
NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Wisconsin, along with the University of Washington and Gonzaga University contributed to this report.
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