University of Washington
Pre-Nationals
Lawrence, Bywater Lead Dawgs At Pre-Nationals
October 16, 2010 | Cross Country
Oct. 16, 2010
Women's Team Results | Men's Team Results
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Top-25 finishes from senior Mel Lawrence and freshman Katie Flood in her collegiate debut helped the Husky women's cross country team to a top-10 finish at Pre-Nationals today, while sophomore Joey Bywater led the men's team against the largest fields of the year at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course.
Lawrence, an All-American the past two seasons, continues to improve after making her season debut just two weeks back. The Reno, Nevada native, one of just three Huskies ever to earn All-America honors in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track, ran just behind the lead pack throughout the morning's 6,000-meter race. She finished 19th overall in 20-minutes and 44-seconds.
Flood, a high school national champ out of Des Moines, Iowa, showed her abundance of talent in her first official collegiate start, placing 23rd overall in 20:48. It is an especially impressive performance considering the size of the field with over 250 runners on the course. Just two weeks ago Flood competed for the first time at the Emerald City Open in Seattle while the main squad was at Notre Dame. She placed third there as the top collegian, earning her way onto the travel squad and making an instant impact today.
The 13th-ranked Husky women were essentially one finisher away from a great race, as unfortunately senior Kailey Campbell was forced to drop out midway though the race. At the halfway point, Washington was fourth overall, but with Campbell out of the mix UW ended up ninth out of 38 teams in the field with 352 points. Third-ranked Florida State got the win with 115 points.
With Campbell unable to finish, after Lawrence it was all freshmen and sophomores for UW. Sophomore Lindsay Flanagan was 49th overall in 21:15, freshman Liberty Miller was 82nd in her first run over the national championship course in 21:32, and sophomore Allison Linnell was 179th to cap UW's scoring in 22:23. Linnell was racing for the first time in a month after suffering from bronchitis.
Three Huskies also ran in the open race held after the four main men's and women's races. Redshirt freshman Justine Johnson led the way, placing fourth overall in a time of 21:53. That time would have placed her around 120th in UW's Blue Race. Freshman Mackenzie Carter was 14th in the open race and sophomore Breanna Huschka was 26th.
The men's team was somewhat in flux for the second straight race, as they competed again without junior Max O'Donoghue-McDonald, and junior Cameron Quackenbush gave it a go but was unable to finish, similar to the events of the Notre Dame Invitational. Sophomore Joey Bywater led the way for the second race in a row, finishing 69th in 24:38 for the 8,000-meters.
Several Huskies had their strongest outings of the season today, as sophomore James Cameron was UW's No. 2 runner for the first time in his career, placing 103rd overall in a time of 24:56 over the 8,000-meters. And sophomore Rob Webster made a strong showing in his first outing of the season, placing 155th as UW's third finisher in 25:27, just ahead of senior Jordan Swarthout who was 156th one second back. Redshirt freshman Gareth Gilna capped the scoring in 160th-place. As a team, the Huskies finished 26th out of 35 teams.
Also worth noting this weekend is the fact that two-time All-American junior Christine Babcock competed at the Mike Hodges Invite at Clackamas College in Oregon on Friday, her first race of any kind since the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships. Babcock won the race by more than 40 seconds, running 17:15 for 5,000-meters. Senior Lauren Saylor also ran for the first time in nearly a year, placing seventh. Both competed unattached.
Washington will now look ahead to one of the dates circled on the calendar at the start of the year, the Pac-10 Championships on October 30. The Huskies are hosting this year's Pac-10 meet at Jefferson Golf Course with the women's race at 10 a.m. and the men's race at 11 a.m.
Players Mentioned
