SEATTLE - For the first time since 2013, Washington cross country swept both the team and individual titles at its annual Sundodger Invitational this afternoon at Lincoln Park in West Seattle. Seniors Amy-Eloise Neale and Johnathan Stevens picked up the individual wins, and both teams had dominant wins to get the season off and running in earnest.
The men's team won with a perfect 15 points as the first nine finishers were all Dawgs, led by Stevens who covered the 8,000-meters in 24-minutes, 11-seconds for his first career cross country win. Stevens' win continued a long streak of individual titles for the Dawgs, as a Husky has now won the men's Sundodger title for nine years in a row. The men easily outpaced second-place Eastern Washington which had 62 points, followed by Seattle U with 75 points and Portland State with 94.
Neale, the reigning Pac-12 and West Region Champion did not have a Sundodger win to her credit, aside from winning the high school race, but she made a move on the final loop to cruise to the win and get her year off to a great start. She finished the 6,000-meter course in 20:29, and the Huskies as a team won with 22 points, beating a nine-team field. Oregon State was second with 66 points, Nevada was third with 72, Creighton finished fourth with 84 points, and Eastern Washington rounded out the top-five with 113 points. It's the 11th title in a row for the Husky women's team.
Following close behind Stevens in the men's race was a pair of true freshmen running unattached today. Talon Hull was just two seconds back to take second in 24:13, and then Tibebu Proctor came across in third-place in 24:20. Junior Mahmoud Moussa led much of the race, winding up fourth today in 24:25, nearly fifty seconds faster than he ran at the same meet a year ago. Another major one-year improvement came from Julius Diehr, as he went from 21st last year to fifth today in 24:32, a 29-second improvement. Redshirt freshman Nick Laccinole was sixth in 24:37 and sophomore Andy Snyder was seventh in 24:42, exactly a full minute faster than he ran a year ago. Sophomore Charlie Barringer was eighth in 24:43 and redshirt freshman David Strome completed the top-nine Husky pack in 24:44.
Head Coach Greg Metcalf was equally impressed with his veteran returners as he was with his new freshmen. "Winning a cross country meet here at Lincoln Park is always fun, and for Johnathan to go do that today, he's an incredibly talented young man and to go get a win as a senior in his last Sundodger Invite was fun to see, and actually not a surprise, he looked completely within himself and ran with confidence today. Mahmoud Moussa that was a great race for him, I think that's 40 seconds faster than he's run here so that's a great confidence booster. Then Talon Hull and Tibs Proctor, watching those guys run today, they are two gifted and talented freshmen, probably as good a freshmen duo as we've ever had. Excited to add those guys in and seeing where they fit when we are at full strength at the Dellinger Invite." All-American Amy-Eloise Neale closing in on a victory today at Lincoln Park
Neale won by five seconds over Creighton's Emily Martin. Senior Izzi Batt-Doyle was in or near the lead throughout the race and came through in third in 20:39, an improvement of 21 seconds over her time a year ago. Fifth-place went to junior Emily Hamlin in 20:52, 18 seconds faster than she ran last year. Senior Anna Maxwell was right behind Hamlin in sixth in 20:53, then sophomore Nikki Zielinski crossed seventh in 20:54. The first freshman across was Allie Schadler, just a second behind Zielinski in 20:55 for eighth.
"We ran a handful of freshmen women unattached today, and I was incredibly pleased and proud of our youngsters," said Metcalf. "We'll probably put a lot of them in uniform in a couple weeks when we go to Eugene. There were pleasant surprises. Emily Hamlin was much better than she was a year ago. It was a great start for Izzi and a great win for Amy-Eloise Neale. Allie Schadler I'm excited about where she is, Nikki Zielinski ran unattached but that was a quality effort from her. Those freshmen girls they were really good today. That group is full of wonderful potential after racing day number one."
The Dawgs will now be running on the road for the next three meets before they are back in town for the West Regional Championships in November. First up is a trip down to Eugene to run in Oregon's annual Dellinger Invitational on Friday, Sept. 29.
