Women's 6,000m Open -ย Results
Men's 8,000m Open -ย Results
High School Girls 5,000m Varsity -ย Results
High School Boys 5,000m Varsity -ย Results
High School Girls 5,000m Junior Varsity -ย Results
High School Boys 5,000m Junior Varsity -ย Results
SEATTLE โ For the 25th annual Sundodger Invitational, the weather cooperated by presenting a damp, crisp fall day a few days before the official change of seasons. For the 18th time in those 25 years, and the 10th year in a row, the Husky women's cross country team took the title at their first real effort of the season. All-American Colby Gilbert got the individual win for the Husky men's squad, the eighth year in a row that UW has had the individual men's champion.
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Held at Lincoln Park in West Seattle, the day once again featured eight races, including collegiate open races with over thirty teams, and high school varsity and junior varsity races to go with the collegiate invitationals featuring the Dawgs.
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The 11th-ranked women's team posted one of the most dominant wins in meet history, scoring 18 points with eight of the top-nine finishers, including the winners, sophomore Charlotte Prouse and junior Katie Knight, who crossed the line together holding hands, with the photo finish give Prouse the technical win. Prouse and Knight both finished the 6,000-meters in 20-minutes, 18-seconds, the fifth- and sixth-fastest times in meet history and for Knight it was 48 seconds than her Sundodger run last year. Washington State was second with 67 points, Hawaii was third with 99, Seattle U. fourth with 102, Portland State fifth and Fresno State sixth.
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Gilbert got his first official cross country meet win in 23:39 over 8,000-meters, leading for basically the entire race. That time is third-fastest in meet history. Junior Andrew Gardner was close behind in third-place in 23:57, but the eighth-ranked Huskies did not have their full depth today, and Washington State took advantage with a strong pack that earned the win with 24 points while the Huskies were second with 40. Seattle U. was third with 99 points, Fresno State had 101 for fourth, and Portland State was fifth with 121.
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Behind Prouse and Knight, the only runner breaking up a Husky clean sweep was Annemarie Schwanz of Fresno State, the seventh-place finisher at NCAA Outdoors last spring in the 1,500-meters. Running fourth was another finalist from that 1,500-meters last year, as Amy-Eloise Neale ran her first cross country race since 2013, finishing in 20:24.
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Freshman Kaitlyn Neal, running unattached, was fifth in 20:25, and another true freshman also running unattached, Nikki Zielinski was sixth in 20:39. Anna Maxwell finished seventh in 20:51, a second ahead of senior Kaylee Flanagan who crossed in 20:52, which was 36 seconds faster than a year ago. Izzi Batt-Doyle made her cross country debut in ninth-place in 21:00 for ninth. Sophomore Emily Hamlin was 21-seconds faster than 2015, finishing 11th in 21:10.
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Freshman Katherine Penner was 14th, competing unattached, and Joey Bosserman and Grace Hodge were 16th and 17th respectively in 22:00 and 22:01, major improvements over a year ago. Kelly Lawson also got a top-25 finish, crossing in 22:17 for 23rd.
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"I think today was full of good things for our women," said Head Coach Greg Metcalf. "Everyone was better than a year ago. Katie Knight and Charlotte Prouse ran great. Kaitlyn Neal, not a real surprise that she did well, and we'll see what we do with her in a few weeks. Amy-Eloise Neale had the best cross country race she's run in four years. Top to bottom that's the best ten women we've ever had in the history of this meet. Knowing what we've done so far, there's a lot more in the tank."
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Gilbert and Gardner lead the pack through Lincoln Park
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After Gardner, the next Dawg to cross was freshman Gavin Parpart, who ran unattached but finished 11th in 24:33. Senior Blake Nelson was 14th overall in 24:44, and two more unattached frosh came in behind him in 15th and 16th as Ryan Gregory came through in 24:46 and Nick Laccinole in 24:47. Keith Williams was officially the fourth scorer for the Dawgs in 24:48, one minute and 12 seconds faster than his time a year ago. Redshirt freshman Julius Diehr was the fifth scorer in 21st-place in 25:01 after finishing 47th in 26:18 last season. Mahmoud Moussa took 24th in 25:14.
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The Huskies did not run two of their top returners in Fred Huxham and Johnathan Stevens as the Huskies as a squad are just coming off a big training block and will look to build towards November as they did last year for their eighth-place NCAA finish.
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"I think our group's been very patient," said Metcalf. "This is the first ace and you have to knock the cobwebs off. I think we seemed a little flat. Saying that, Colby Gilbert's really good, and that was a nice effort for him today. Andrew Gardner that was a really mature run for him as well. Our freshmen kids looked good today. Julius Diehr and Keith Williams looked much improved from a year ago. We told our guys afterwards this is the first race, in two weeks' time we need to be a little better, and keep getting a little better every two weeks."
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Those two weeks will take the Huskies to their next home meet, the Washington Invitational, back at Jefferson Park Golf Course on Oct. 1.
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