University of Washington
NCAA West Regional Championships
Women Fourth, Men Tenth At NCAA Regionals
November 10, 2007 | Cross Country
Nov. 10, 2007
Men's Results 
| Women's Results
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. - The No. 7 Washington women's cross country team all but assured itself of an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships with a fourth-place finish at NCAA West Regionals today at the Springfield Country Club. The Husky men, however, saw their season come to an end with a 10th-place finish.
The two top-ranked teams in the nation each took home their respective Regional titles, with the Oregon men and Stanford women both repeating their wins from 2006. The Portland men and Oregon women also secured automatic berths to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 19 by virtue of their second-place finishes.
The Husky women appear to have earned more than enough points needed for at-large selection, though the fields will be officially announced tomorrow at www.ncaasports.com. At-large selections are based on accumulated regular-season wins over NCAA qualifying teams. If, as expected, the women are chosen to run at NCAA's, it will be their first trip since 2004, ending a two-year absence. The Huskies have made 13 previous NCAA appearances, including eight-straight from 1997-2004.
The women took care of business on Saturday, with their lead duo of junior Anita Campbell and sophomore Katie Follett pointing the way once again. Campbell crossed the line in fourth-place which is the best finish by a Husky at Regionals since 1995 when Tara Carlson placed third. Campbell covered the 6,000-meter course in 20:24. Follett finished in seventh-place with a time of 20:39. Follett has been a completely different runner all season compared to her freshman campaign, and this race provides another example, as the Fort Collins, Colo. native was 82nd at Regionals in 2006 in a time nearly three minutes slower than today.
Junior Amanda Miller ran third for the Huskies in 17th-place in 20:55; the best Regional finish for the two-time track All-American. Campbell, Follett, and Miller all earn All-West Region honors with their top-25 places. It is the third for Campbell, who has gone from 11th-place as a freshman in 2005, to sixth in 2006, and now up to fourth. The regional honors are the second for Miller, who placed 23rd last year, and the first for Follett.
Running fourth for UW, in 32nd-place, was freshman Mel Lawrence in 21:17. Senior Trisha Rasmussen helped extend her career for one more race with a 58th-place finish in 21:44. She was followed three seconds later by freshman Lauren Saylor in 61st-place. Sophomore Brooke Anderson rounded out UW's top-seven with a 79th-place finish in 21:58.
"Anita and Katie ran great," said Head Coach Greg Metcalf. "They went and asserted themselves and ran very solid. That's a great group of individuals they're running against, too, so that's a very good effort for them. And Amanda Miller had her best Regional performance ever and continues to improve. After that we were kind of just average today. Mel is just a freshman and she's been great all year and she'll be great in 10 days time (at NCAA's), but it was kind of an off-day for her a little bit. Trisha and Lauren will also run better in Terre Haute. That being said, the only goal of the Regional meet is to do what you need to do to get to the national meet and our women's team did that today."
The Huskies finished with 118 points, trailing Stanford's 33, Oregon's 72, and the 106 points of third-place Arizona State, whom the Huskies tied two weeks ago at the Pac-10 Championships. Stanford senior Teresa McWalters placed first with a time of 19:57. Two-time defending Regional and Pac-10 Champion Arianna Lambie of Stanford placed fifth, one spot behind UW's Campbell.
The news was less positive for the men's team, as injuries and inexperience caught up with the Dawgs and they failed to score an upset of a probable NCAA team that could bump them into nationals. The Huskies finished 10th with 233 points, still better than 14 other squads but not the day they were hoping for.
Sophomore Kelly Spady led the Huskies over the 10,000-meter course in a time of 30:55, good for 31st-place. True freshman Max O'Donoghue-McDonald was second in 46th-place in 31:17, followed by junior Caleb Knox (49th, 31:26), junior Jon Harding (51st, 31:29), and senior Adam Shimer, who rounded out the top-five in his final cross country race in 57th-place with a time of 31:39. Red-shirt freshman Riley Booker and sophomore Colton Tully-Doyle placed sixth and seventh, respectively, for the Dawgs.
"Of the seven guys we ran, only two had ever run in the Regional meet before today," said Metcalf. "We didn't run great. It's a day that our youngsters--Kelly Spady, and Max O'Donoghue-McDonald, and Riley Booker--they've just got to walk away from today and be better for the experience and learn from it and come back a year from now and we'll be much better."
The Husky men were also without the services today of senior leader Carl Moe, who was unable to run due to continuing injuries including an IT band issue. In 2003 as a freshman Moe helped the Huskies earn their first NCAA bid since 1993 and was the team's No. 4 runner at NCAA's. He battled a variety of injuries over the next two years, but came back again last season to place third for the Huskies at NCAA's once again.
"It's frustrating for Carl. His focus right now needs to be getting healthy and getting ready to go have a phenomenal track season, and that's it," said Metcalf. "A month ago he had an interview with The Seattle Times saying how healthy he's been, and all of a sudden he was never healthy again. As a senior this is not how you want to end your career, but thankfully he's got an indoor and outdoor track season to go take care of business."
On the bright side, all of UW's top-four and six of the top-seven finishers from today will return in 2008. Also boosting the team will be the return of senior Jeremy Mineau, who led the Huskies to their 12th-place NCAA finish in 2006 with a team-best 53rd-place run. Mineau was fifth at Regionals a year ago, but red-shirted the season due to injury. Cal transfer Jake Schmitt is also expected to make a big impact as he was UW's top unattached runner at several meets.
"Our men's group, you look around and see Jeremy and Jake standing there. Max is going to be much better a year from now, Riley is going to get better, and Kelly Spady's going to go do great things. Our men have to learn from this but we will add some significant firepower next year with Jeremy and Jake, so our team will be decidedly different for sure," Metcalf said.
As for the women, they will return to Seattle to recharge and prepare for nationals, where they should have a great shot at topping the program's all-time best 9th-place finish in 1998. Check with GoHuskies.com tomorrow when NCAA selections become official.
NCAA West Regional Championships
Springfield, Ore.; Springfield Country Club
Nov. 10, 2007
Women's Results (6,000m)
Top-10 Teams:
Individual Champion: Teresa McWalters, Stanford, 19:57.
Husky Finishers: 4. Anita Campbell, 20:24; 7. Katie Follett, 20:39; 17. Amanda Miller 20:55; 32. Marie Lawrence 21:17; 58. Trisha Rasmussen 21:44; 61. Lauren Saylor, 21:47; 79. Brooke Anderson, 21:58.
Men's Results (10,000m)
Top-10 Teams: 1. Oregon 47; 2. Portland 76; 3. Stanford 100; 4. California 112; 5. Cal Poly 116; 6. Arizona State 141; 7. UCLA 142; 8. Washington State 220; 9. UC Santa Barbara 224; 10. Washington 233.
Individual Champion: Galen Rupp, Oregon, 29:35.
Husky Finishers: 31. Kelly Spady, 30:55; 46. Max O'Donoghue-McDonald, 31:17; 49. Caleb Knox, 31:26; 51. Jon Harding, 31:29; 57. Adam Shimer, 31:39; 64. Riley Booker, 31:47; 123. Colton Tully-Doyle, 33:16.
