University of Washington
Wisconsin Invitational
Yorks, Meyers Power Dawgs At Wisconsin
October 16, 2015 | Cross Country
Wisconsin adidas Invitational
Women's Championship Results | Men's Championship Results
Women's Open Results
MADISON, Wisc. – Another in a long line of great days from seniors Izaic Yorks and Maddie Meyers helped drive the Husky cross country teams to strong finishes at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational this morning, the deepest and strongest field in the NCAA outside of the national championships. Yorks placed seventh for the men, his best ever showing at a cross country race of this caliber, while Meyers was 29th to lead the UW women to eighth-place in a field that featured 20 ranked teams.
Today's race at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course was the final run before the championship half of the schedule begins with the Pac-12 Championships in two weeks. The team standings looked familiar for the Dawgs, with a twist, as last year the UW men placed eighth and the women finished 13th, while today it was the women in eighth-place and the men in 13th. Both UW squads would go on to finish in the top-25 at NCAAs last year.
“Results were a bit mixed but in the end I think we accomplished what we needed to in terms of points for the national championships,” said Head Coach Greg Metcalf. “We've had to deal with some sickness on the squad, and today Fred Huxham was having trouble breathing, and Charlotte Prouse was ill and got to a mile in and we pulled her off the course.
“But with all that said, Izaic ran phenomenal today, Andrew Gardner had a great day, our women finished eighth and beat some good teams, and you put Charlotte back in there I think we're still right in the mix.”
The 10th-ranked Husky women's team shored up its postseason chances by finishing ahead of a number of ranked squads. The Dawgs scored 293 points for eighth, finishing just 10 points behind No. 8 Iowa State in seventh, and No. 6 Boise State in sixth (275 points) and third-ranked Providence (5th, 264 points) was also close within range. No. 1-ranked New Mexico had a dominant win with just 32 points.
Washington outpaced 12 teams that came in ranked between 13th and 25th nationally, including 16th-ranked Penn State, 15th-ranked Syracuse, 18th-ranked Notre Dame, and defending national champion 13th-ranked Michigan State.
The Huskies had just a 34-second spread between their first and fifth finishers. Meyers led the Huskies for the ninth race in a row, finishing 29th overall in 20:18, an improvement of 18 seconds and 11 places from her finish on the same course a year ago. Sophomores Katie Knight and Anna Maxwell finished side by side, in 52nd and 53rd-places, respectively, in 20:32.
Junior Kaylee Flanagan finished 70th today, exactly where she placed a year ago, but she ran 10 seconds faster today, finishing in 20:42. Flanagan missed the Washington Invitational two weeks ago so her return to UW's top-five was a big positive today. Senior Eleanor Fulton had her best ever Wisconsin run, placing 89th overall in 20:53. Freshman Lindsey Bradley was just another nine seconds back in 105th-place in the field of nearly 250 runners, crossing in 21:02. Freshman Charlotte Prouse, the No. 2 Husky over the first two races, did not finish today due to illness.
“Kaylee ran a veteran, solid race for us today after not having raced in a few weeks,” said Metcalf. “Maddie and Lindsey have both had some time off and that showed a bit. Maddie was right with the top group for most of the race but just fell back over the last 2k. But Katie Knight had one of the best races of her career, and Eleanor ran better than she ever has here so there were a lot of positives.”
The men finished 13th today out of the 36 team field with 417 points, just eight points behind 15th-ranked Michigan State. Washington, which came in receiving votes but outside of the top-30, finished ahead of five ranked teams including 11th-ranked Wisconsin, 16th-ranked Indiana, 21st-ranked Oklahoma, 19th-ranked Mississippi, 27th-ranked Princeton, and several other teams that were receiving votes in the coaches poll.
Yorks, who started his senior season with a win at the Sundodger, gave the Huskies a top-10 individual finisher at Wisconsin for the third year in a row, after Aaron Nelson placed in the top-five the past two seasons. Washington is the only team now with a top-10 finisher at Wisconsin for three straight years.
The Lakewood, Wash. native finished seventh in 23:39 for the 8,000-meters, just four seconds off the winning time of 23:39 run by Marc Scott of Tulsa. Compared to a year ago, Yorks was fifty places better today and 43-seconds faster.
Sophomore Andrew Gardner turned in a career-best day, as he was Washington's No. 2 finisher today for the first time in 24:15. Senior Tyler King finished 84th today in 24:22, and sophomore Johnathan Stevens was 125th in 24:33. Sophomore Fred Huxham capped the top-five scorers with a 135th-place finish in 24:37. Freshman Charlie Barringer was sixth for the Dawgs in 170th-place, and redshirt freshman Mahmoud Moussa finished 181st overall out of the 244 finishers.
“Tyler and Johnny were both solid today, I'd give the men a 'B' overall, we just have to keep progressing from here and things will fall into place,” said Metcalf.
The Dawgs also had a full five runners in the women's open race, and freshman Emily Hamlin impressed there with a fourth-place finish in 20:56. The next four Huskies all finished in the top-25 out of the 79 finishers. Senior Jenna Sanders was 13th in 21:12, sophomore Kelly Lawson was 18th in 21:22, senior Sydney Harris was 20th in 21:24, and senior Baylee Mires crossed right next to Harris in 21st-place.
Turning towards the postseason, the Huskies will not have to leave the state now until the NCAA Championship meet. The Pac-12 Championships will be in Colfax, Wash. this year hosted by Washington State on Friday, Oct. 30 at 10:30 a.m. The Huskies then host the NCAA West Regional Championships at Jefferson Park Golf Course on Friday, Nov. 13.
Players Mentioned
