Washington women take second at Wisconsin Pre-Nationals, while WSU women win B section...
VERONA, Wisconsin--In a matchup pitting the top five teams in the USTFCCCA women's Division I coaches' poll, the third-ranked University of Washington women's cross country team finished second Saturday behind number 2 BYU at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals contested on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course that will host the NCAA championships five weeks from now.
Utilizing the same team strategy that led the Dawgs to the team title three weeks ago at the Nuttycombe Invitational on this same course, the Huskies started slowly, with the emphasis on running as a team.
Through the first 2k of the 6k race, the Huskies were in fifth, then worked their way into third at the 4k mark.
Chloe Foerster (Paul Merca photo) was the first Husky across the line in 19:51, finishing 16th. She was in 33rd at the 4k, before moving up 17 places over the final third of the race.
Behind Foerster was India Weir in 28th at 20:01, followed by Maeve Stiles in 30th at 20:03.
Julia David-Smith was 41st in 20:10, and Paris Olympian Sophie O'Sullivan finished 42nd in her season debut in 20:11 to round out Washington's scorers, giving the Huskies a 1-5 split of 20 seconds.
Freshman Pamela Kosgei of New Mexico overtook Florida's Hilda Olemomoi in the last 400 to win in a course record 19:00, as the first six runners went under the course record of 19:18 set by Florida's Parker Valby last year.
BYU scored 105 points to the Huskies' 157, with number one ranked Northern Arizona third with 166 points. Number 28 West Virginia was fourth with 207, while fourth ranked Notre Dame was fifth with 216 points.
In the top men's section, Washington, which entered the meet ranked number 13 in the coaches' poll, finished 24th with 596 points, despite holding out its top four finishers from the Nuttycombe meet three weeks ago: Tyrone Gorze, Leo Daschbach, Nathan Green & Evan Jenkins.
Washington was led by Ronan McMahon-Staggs, who was 82nd in 23:45, followed by Rhys Hammond in 89th at 23:48.
Thomas Diamond was 101st in 23:55, followed by James Crabtree in 160th at 24:24, and Ben MacMillan rounded out Washington's five scorers in 171st in 24:28. The Huskies had a 1-5 split of 43 seconds.
Eight runners ran under the course record of 23:04 set by Parker Wolfe of North Carolina three weeks ago Nuttycombe, led by winner Habtom Samuel of New Mexico's 22:35.
Without the nation's top two teams, Oklahoma State, and BYU in the field, third ranked Arkansas took the team title with 89 points, followed by fourth ranked Iowa State with 128.
Number 9 Stanford was third with 142, followed by number 8 New Mexico at 166, then sixth ranked Northern Arizona was fifth with 178 points.
In the B section of the Pre-Nationals, the Washington State women took the team title with a score of 77 points, to easily outdistance Air Force, who had 148 points. Vanderbilt was third with 176 points.
Zenah Cheptoo led the way for the Cougs in 2nd in 20:13, running with eventual winner Brenda Jepchirchir of Auburn, who ran 20:01.
Alaina Stone-Boggs had a breakthrough performance in 7th in 20:39, while Caroline Jepkorir was 13th in 20:52. Neema Kimtai placed 25th in 21:04, and Nicole Bissell was the fifth scorer for WSU in 30th in 21:09 for a 1-5 spread of 56 seconds.
While there was talk that maybe Washington State's men's squad should have been seeded into the top section because of how well Evans Kurui was running, the Cougars finished fifth with 190 points.
Evans Kurui, perhaps not used to having someone running with him during the race, finished second in 23:39.
Kurui led early, but Utah Valley's Mohamed Guled, the winner of the Roy Griak meet in Minnesota, was the only one in the field who dared to go with Kurui. Kurui appeared distracted by the fact that Guled was near him, and shortly before the 4k mark waved him to the front, as if asking to help with the pace setting.
Guled opened up an 11 second lead on Kurui from 4 to 6k, but saw it chopped down over the final stages.
Guled did win in 23:32 to Kurui's 23:39.
WSU's Brian Barsaiya was seventh in 24:08, followed by Leif Swanson in 29th 24:30. Kelvin Limo finished 34th in 24:34, and Leo Cook was 118th in 25:35, giving Washington State a 1-5 split of 1:56.
Purdue won the team title with 73 points, followed by Illinois with 148, and Ohio State third with 177.
SEATTLE U WOMEN FIFTH AT SANTA CLARA...
In Sunnyvale, California, the Seattle University women finished fifth at the Santa Clara University Bronco Invitational Saturday morning.
The Redhawks scored 152 points, as Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo won with 45 points, followed by UC Davis at 120, and San Francisco with 143.
Azalea Groleau (Paul Merca photo) was seventh over the 6k distance in 20:45 as Tatiana Cornejo of Cal Poly won in 20:15.
Lilianne Hargreaves was 19th in 21:07, followed by Diana Camargo Solis in 33rd in 21:24. Alisha Saucedo was 58th in 21:57, and McKenna White was 76th in 22:08.
SeattleU's men's squad finished 14th in the 17-team field with 351 points.
Lance Mason was the Redhawks' top scorer in 50th place in 25:27 for the 8k distance. Jeremy Poseidon was 64th in 25:42, followed by Alex Jensen in 82nd in 25:56, then Seku Sanders in 98th at 26:17, and Daniel Barreto in 99th in 26:19.
Muhammed Ahmed of UC Davis was the individual winner in 23:48 to lead them to the team title with 44 points. Cal Poly was second with 72 points, and UC Santa Barbara was third with 82 points.
LEWIS-CLARK INVITATIONAL RECAP...
In Lewiston, Idaho, Eastern Washington and Gonzaga went 1-2 in the men's 8k race at the Lewis-Clark Invitational Saturday, with the Eagles scoring 38 points to Gonzaga's 72 points, while Washington State finished sixth with 135.
Evan Peters led the way for Eastern Washington with his sixth place finish in 24:18. Caleb Richardson was the top runner for Gonzaga in 13th in 24:36. Jacob Easton was first across the line for Washington State win 23rd place in 24:57.
Unattached runner Austen Apperson was the individual winner in 23:53.
In the women's 5k, Eastern Washington (69 points) finished third behind Boise State's 31 and Idaho's 59 points.
Washington State was fourth with 111, and Gonzaga was fifth with 115 points.
NCAA D2 All-American Cassidy Walchak-Sloan of Eastern finished seventh in 17:21. Maya Nichols of Washington State was tenth in 17:31. and Ireland Robertson of Gonzaga was their first runner across the line in eleventh in 17:32.
Naomy Lokiles from Boise State was the individual winner in 16:59.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Gonzaga, Washington, Washington State, Eastern Washington, SeattleU, Wisconsin, Santa Clara, Lewis & Clark State, and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.
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