University of Washington
Sundodger Invitational
Women's Team, Yorks Grab Sundodger Wins
September 20, 2015 | Cross Country
Women's 6,000m Invitational (Featuring UW) - RESULTS
Men's 8,000m Invitational (Featuring UW) - RESULTS
Women's 6,000m Open - RESULTS
Men's 8,000m Open - RESULTS
High School Girls 5,000m Varsity - RESULTS
High School Boys 5,000m Varsity - RESULTS
High School Girls 5,000m Junior Varsity - RESULTS
High School Boys 5,000m Junior Varsity - RESULTS
SEATTLE – Two outstanding streaks continued for the Husky cross country teams at the Sundodger Invite this afternoon. First up, the 14th-ranked UW women won the team title for the ninth year in a row. Minutes later, senior Izaic Yorks got the individual victory in the men's invitational, the seventh-straight season that a Husky men's runner has crossed the line first at Lincoln Park in West Seattle.
In the 24th installment of the Sundodger, the Husky women were dominant, winning the title for the 17th time overall against a field that included Washington State, Oregon State, Nevada, Fresno State, Tulane, Seattle U., Portland State and Hawaii. Washington finished with 17 points, the best winning score in the history of the Sundodger and just above a perfect 15 points. The Cougars were second with 88 points.
Sarah Inglis of Trinity Western, the runner-up a year ago, broke away to take the win this year in 20:22 over the 6,000-meter course, but Washington took the next four spots, led by 2014 champion Maddie Meyers, who settled for second today in 20:31. Two freshmen were among those top-four Huskies, as Charlotte Prouse was right behind Meyers in third-place in 20:34, and Lindsey Bradley finished fifth in 20:48. Fourth-place went to sophomore Anna Maxwell, who crossed in 20:47, seventeen seconds faster than her time last year.
Katie Knight had a solid return to cross country after redshirting last fall, as she finished 11th as UW's fifth scorer in 21:06. Right behind her was senior Eleanor Fulton in 13th-place in 21:08. Junior Kaylee Flanagan was 17th in 21:28 and a third true freshman, Emily Hamlin, was 18th in 21:31. Senior Jenna Sanders finished 25th in 21:43 and sophomore Kelly Lawson was 26th in 21:55. Josephine Bosserman was 39th in 22:23, nearly a minute faster than a year ago.
“I thought it was a very mature, controlled effort from our women today and that included three true freshmen, Charlotte, Lindsey, and Emily who were all very impressive,” said Head Coach Greg Metcalf. “We've had some great teams so to score the fewest points ever is pretty impressive no matter what. Maddie maybe let the leaders get away a little too far but that's a good opener for her. Anna Maxwell had a really good day today, Katie and Eleanor that was a good starting point for them so we learned a lot today about where we're at.”
Inglis and another Trinity Western runner made an early move for the lead, and Meyers and Prouse ran together in third and fourth for the middle part of the race. The Husky pair slowly closed the gap and surpassed one of the TW runners but Inglis held on to the end.
Meyers said she stayed controlled and stuck to her plan early but may have let Inglis get a bit too far away. “I think I kind of spaced out during the second two miles, and didn't engage properly,” said the All-American senior. “So she ended up getting a little farther ahead than I wanted, and going up the hill she was a little too far. I could tell she wasn't picking it up but I just didn't make the move soon enough. But it was still a fun race and we had a solid pack of girls coming in. We know that Sundodger isn't our most important race of the year, so we just kept it calm and collected and powered to the finish line.”
In the men's 8k, Yorks made an early season statement as the Pac-12 1,500-meter champion once again proved that he can handle the longer runs as well. The race wound up as a head-to-head battle between Yorks and Washington State's Michael Williams over the half mile, with Yorks outkicking Williams to win by three seconds in 24:05.
But it was Washington State that edged the Huskies in the team battle for the second year in a row. After Yorks, sophomore Fred Huxham had a great run to finish third today in 24:10, but WSU got its five scorers in the top-eight to finish with 24 points, while the Huskies were a close second with 33 points.
Winning today wasn't really in Yorks' mind coming in. “Maybe if things with well,” he said, “but I just expected to be in the mix. I just wanted to run better than I had in years before. I got up front pretty early, then went to the back of that front pack and just bided my time through 4k or 5k, and probably with 3k to go it was just me, Fred, and two Cougars up there. The last 600 it was just me and him. It's pretty fun to win, I haven't won a cross country race in so long.”
Coming up second in the team race doesn't shake Yorks' faith in the season to come, after all the same result took place last fall but the Huskies went on to make their first NCAA appearance since 2009 and finish 20th in the nation.
“We have really good pieces, and the coaches know what they're doing and we're all going to come on at the right time I think, and it's just going to get better as the year goes on,” said Yorks.
Behind Yorks and Huxham, sophomore Johnathan Stevens and sophomore Andrew Gardner finished ninth and tenth, respectively, as UW's third and fourth finishers. Stevens ran 24:29, exactly thirty seconds faster than a year ago, while Gardner was back on the cross country course for the first time since 2013. Freshman Charlie Barringer ran unattached but had a great debut, placing 13th in 24:38, just ahead of senior Tyler King, who was 14th as UW's fifth scorer in 24:44.
Redshirt freshman Drew Schreiber turned in a 16th-place finish in 24:58, and fellow redshirt freshman Mahmoud Moussa was 19th in 25:11. Freshman Andy Snyder ran unattached and was 21st in 25:13.
“Izaic Yorks, the last time he raced was in the NCAA finals at 1,500-meters so to come out today and win an 8,000-meter cross country race just shows what an incredibly talented young man he is,” said Metcalf. “Izaic ran a very smart race and was aggressive at the right time. That was also easily the best cross country race of Fred's career and we expect more to come from him.”
“I thought Johnathan Stevens and Andrew Gardner ran solid today, but like last year we were just a little flat coming off camp last week. We held Colby Gilbert out today and some of our guys just need to recharge after some tough training and we'll continue to progress and the goal is to be running our best in November.”
The Huskies will be back hosting another great meet in two weeks, the Washington Invitational at Jefferson Park Golf Course on Friday, Oct. 2, at 3:15 p.m.
