2024 Cross Country Preview: University of Washington...

US Olympic Trials qualifiers Nathan Green (725)
and Evan Jenkins (727) at the 2023 NCAA West
Regionals (Paul Merca photo)

After a few years away from previewing the state's nine NCAA Division I and II cross country teams due to our emphasis on the late summer pro competitions, paulmerca.blogspot.com is posting another in a series of snapshots of the state's teams.

We move on a few miles north of Seattle University to the University of Washington.  The Huskies have high expectations for the coming season, as evidenced by both squads ranked in the national top 25 in the USTFCCCA pre-season Division I coaches poll released on Tuesday. 

For only the second time in his nearly twenty-year coaching career, University of Washington head coach Andy Powell was not at the NCAA cross country championships with his team. 

The only other time a Powell-led team missed the national championship meet was in 2011 when he was at the University of Oregon.

Thanks to a combination of unranked Gonzaga and Portland peaking at the right time, and underperformances by both the Huskies and then-number 4 Cal Baptist at the NCAA West Regional meet in Sacramento, the Huskies found themselves as the best team in the NCAA not at the championship meet in Virginia, missing the meet for the first time since 2016.

Regional and Pac-12 champ Stanford, along with Gonzaga, earned the two auto qualifiers to nationals, while third place Portland and fourth place Cal Baptist earned the at-large spots.

The Huskies, who finished second at the final Pac-12 championships, begin the preseason ranked number 25 on the mens side, according to the first USTFCCCA coaches poll released. 

According to their roster, the Huskies return US Olympic Trials 1500m fifth place finisher Nathan Green (17th at regionals), Olympic Trials 10000m qualifier Evan Jenkins (19th), Jamar Distel (21st), Leo Daschbach (92nd) and Tyrone Gorze (113th). Washington loses only two-time NCAA indoor mile champ Luke Houser and two time NCAA 1500m winner Joe Waskom from the squad that missed the NCAAs by four points.

Key addition include Cornell transfer Rhys Hammond, an Ivy League track scorer who ran in both the NCAA cross country and outdoor championships; Scottish import Ben MacMillan; and incoming freshmen Martin Barco from Indiana, Nathan Neil from Montana, and Parker Mong from Anacortes.

The Huskies also have a group who were redshirted last season or saw limited action last fall, including Isaac Briggs from Puyallup; Cruize Corvin from Lakewood; Oregon native James Crabtree; Australian Thom Diamond; Seattle's Will Schneider; and UCLA transfer Ronan McMahon-Staggs.

The big question for the Huskies will be whether or not the group can collectively rise up in an uber-competitive West region with the likes of Stanford, Portland, an improved Oregon squad, and Gonzaga.

India Weir (718), Chloe Foerster (712) and
Julia David-Smith (710) of Washington (Paul Merca photo)

The Washington women's team, ranked number 5 team in the USTFCCCA Division I pre-season coaches poll, on paper is a good enough team to possibly make a run to the podium at the NCAA championships in Madison, Wisconsin in November if everything goes right.

The Huskies, who won the final Pac-12 championships on their home course at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, finished third at the regionals and eighth at the national championships in Virginia.

All seven runners from last year's NCAA championship team return, led by Chloe Foerster (47th), Irish Olympian Sophie O'Sullivan (56th), Julia David-Smith (58th), Ella Borsheim (119th), India Weir (140th), Naomi Smith (189th), and Tori Herman (210th).

Foerster was a US Olympic Trials qualifier at 1500 meters, and raced this summer in Europe along with O'Sullivan and David-Smith.

The big catches for the Huskies from the transfer portal include Saskia Lloyd from the University of Melbourne in Australia, who transferred in during the winter; Duke's Amina Maatoug, who finished ninth at last year's NCAA championships; 2023 Ivy League 10000m champ Maeve Stiles from Penn; and Big Ten track scorer Samantha Tran from Michigan. Bay Area transfers Ellie Deligianni from Stanford, and Claire Yerby from Cal will also be in the mix for a top-seven spot.

Washington opens the season on September 3rd with a dual meet against Seattle University at Magnuson Park, before going to their pre-season training camp.

The Huskies make two trips to Madison, Wisconsin for the Nuttycombe Invitational on September 27th, and the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals on October 19th.

The Washington women will see number 4 ranked Oregon in what could be a preview of the Big 10 championship meet at Nuttycombe.

They'll make their debut at the Big Ten Championships in Champaign, Illinois on November 1st, then head to Colfax on November 15th for the NCAA West Regionals hosted by Washington State, topped off by a third trip to Madison for the NCAA championships eight days later.

The big questions for the Washington women is whether the transfers can step up early in the season; whether Maatoug can round into the form that got her a top ten finish at the NCAA championships last year; if the Huskies can get past Oregon, Michigan State, and Wisconsin for the Big Ten title; and more importantly, can they jell in November when it matters to get on the podium at the NCAA championships.

Buckle up, cross country fans.

NOTE: The sports information department at the University of Washington and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.

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