University of Washington
Washington Invitational
Women Edge No. 4 Stanford At Home Invitational
October 03, 2015 | Cross Country
Women's Results | Men's Results
SEATTLE – On the first crisp, cloudy day of autumn, the Huskies came out for their second meet of the season hosting the Washington Invitational at the Jefferson Park Golf Course. The field included some of the top teams in the nation, with four teams on the women's side and four teams on the men's side ranked in the top-25 nationally.
The Washington women came into the race ranked 15th in the country, and fresh off a dominant performance at the Sundodger Invitational in Seattle two weeks ago. With No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 Oregon also on the course, Washington had a great opportunity to take another step against top contenders nationally and in the Pac-12.
Though the season is still early, the Huskies showed they have the talent up front and the depth down the lineup to be a big factor this year. Oregon took the team title on the women's side with 36 points, but the Huskies gained ground on the fourth-ranked Cardinal throughout the 6,000-meters, and eventually nipped them for second-place by just one point, 59 to 60. BYU, ranked 23rd nationally, was a close fourth with 77 points, followed by Air Force, Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, Portland, then three Pac-12 teams, Washington State, UCLA, and Oregon State placing ninth, tenth, and eleventh, respectively.
In a repeat performance of last year's meet, senior Maddie Meyers finished third overall and led the Huskies with a time of 19:49.7. Meyers competed with a lead pack of ten runners for most of the race, making a move for the lead with around a thousand meters to go, but settling for third after Stanford All-American Aisling Cuffe took command and won in 19:41. Oregon's Alli Cash was second in 19:44.
The Huskies put their entire top-five inside the top-20. Freshman Charlotte Prouse (7th) had another outstanding race, running confidently near the front throughout, and crossing the line at 20:00.5. Sophomore Anna Maxwell was 12th in 20:10, nearly a full minute faster than her 32nd-place finish a year ago. Sophomore Katie Knight was 18th in 20:16 and freshman Lindsey Bradley was right behind in 19th in 20:17 to complete the scoring five. Senior Eleanor Fulton also was 23rd in 20:21, forty seconds faster than she ran in 2014. Freshman Emily Hamlin finished the UW top-seven, placing 37th in the 113-runner field despite a mid-race fall.
“Maddie Meyers continues to get better and keeps doing her thing, and the youngsters just followed right in line,” said Head Coach Greg Metcalf. “I was incredibly proud of how those women showed up. This was the first time for Charlotte, Lindsey, and Emily on any stage, and I thought they responded well. Top to bottom, that's as good an effort as we've seen from this group. With 400 meters to go, Lindsey and Katie were running with four Stanford girls, and it was the case where if they beat them, we would beat them, and they both got by a girl and we beat Stanford by one point, and beat a very good BYU team as well. It's early but it gives them confidence.”
The 8,000-meter men's race featured an even deeper field, with four ranked teams and UW and Portland sitting just outside the top-30. Fifth-ranked Oregon held off No. 2 Stanford for the title, 52 to 69, while No. 12 BYU was third with 70 points and 11th-ranked UCLA finished fourth with 117. Air Force got in for fifth-place with 136, just ahead of the Huskies in sixth with 146 points. The Dawgs beat out rivals Portland and Washington State, which had edged UW at the Sundodger two weeks ago. Gonzaga finished ninth, Seattle U tenth, and Eastern Washington 11th.
Sundodger individual champ Izaic Yorks led the men's team once again with a 16th-place finish in 23:36. Sophomore Fred Huxham, running in this meet for the first time, earned a 21st-place finish in 23:42. Senior Tyler King was 33rd and sophomore Andrew Gardner had a very strong second 4k, moving up through the field to finish right behind King in 34th-place. Capping the scoring was Johnathan Stevens in 49th, with freshman Charlie Barringer finishing 54th in his first race in uniform.
Washington also finished sixth at this meet a year ago on the men's side, but went on to build over the following three races to make it to the NCAA Championships, ultimately finishing 20th. Coach Metcalf feels that can happen again.
“We ran way better than we did a year ago,” said Metcalf. “Izaic ran faster than he did a year ago, Fred didn't run here last year, Tyler runs 23:55 today, he was 24:20 last year, and Andrew Gardner ran a phenomenal last 3k to finish right behind Tyler. Johnny and Charlie kept making progress. So we were close, it was a solid effort, we were better than we were two weeks ago, and we need to keep making progress.”
Jefferson Park Golf Course will next be the host of one of the biggest cross country races of the year, on Friday, November 13th as the Huskies host the NCAA West Regional. Next up for the Dawgs is a trip east for the Wisconsin Invitational in Madison, Wisc. on Oct. 16.
Players Mentioned
