Dawg Squads Finish Fourth At Dellinger Invite

Friday, September 29

Springfield, OR

TBD

University of Washington

Dellinger Invitational

September 29, 2017 | Cross Country

Results

By: UW Athletic Communications

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Led by seniors Colby Gilbert and Amy-Eloise Neale, both Husky cross country teams had solid days on a rainy morning in Springfield, Ore. as both teams finished fourth overall.

At the Springfield Golf Course, the Huskies got an early look at some Pac-12 and West Region rivals that they will be going against in another month back in Springfield for the Pac-12 Championships, and up in Seattle for the West Regional meet on Nov. 10.

Gilbert led the way in the men's race, placing fifth overall in 23:57 for the 8,000-meters course, while Neale had a sixth-place finish in the women's race in 19:15.

Sixth-ranked BYU rolled to the men's team title with just 17 points, taking the top four spots before Gilbert broke up their run. Second-ranked Stanford was second with 73 points, followed by No. 8 Oregon at 75 and the Huskies close behind in fourth with 85 points. Gonzaga was fifth at 147 and 18th-ranked Portland was sixth with 186 points.

Following Gilbert in the Husky ranks was freshman Talon Hull and junior Mahmoud Moussa in the top-15. Hull followed up his runner-up Sundodger run with a 13th-place finish today in a time of 23:54, while Moussa was close behind in 15th in 23:59.

Andrew Gardner was 27th in his season debut, fourth among Dawgs, in 24:09, and Sundodger champ Johnathan Stevens capped the scoring five in 33rd-place in 24:17.

Freshman Tibebu Proctor was just a second behind Stevens in 35th-place and sophomore Charlie Barringer had a strong run as well, taking 38th in 24:19. Next up, sophomores Andy Snyder and Julius Diehr finished one second apart, in 49th and 50th, respectively, then redshirt freshman David Strome was 52nd. Redshirt freshman Nate Beamer placed 55th, and redshirt freshmen Ryan Gregory and Gavin Parpart were 61st and 62nd, respectively. Nick Laccinole was 80th in the field of 103 finishers.

Head Coach Greg Metcalf said he was pretty pleased with the men's showing today. "I think they ran well. Colby felt great, that was all about knocking the rust off and getting a competitive effort in. He had a chance to win but just hasn't raced in a long time. Talon just showed how much talent he has once again. Mahmoud had the most complete race he's ever run, I was very proud of him. Then Andrew was light years ahead of where I believed he would be at this point. Johnny has been a little sick since the Sundodger, but top to bottom I think they ran really well and I'm excited to see where they go from here."

The women's squad also placed fourth overall as No. 2 Oregon won with 33 points, followed by No. 5 Stanford with 66 and 19th-ranked BYU with 78. The Huskies had 95 points followed by Portland in fifth with 136.

Neale led the way in sixth in 19:15. She was backed up by Izzi Batt-Doyle who was the second Dawg for the second straight race, finishing 14th in 19:32. Junior Emly Hamlin was the third Husky in 19:43 for 20th-place. Sophomore Kaitlyn Neal was 27th in 19:53, and sophomore Nikki Zielinski was one spot behind her in 19:56. Senior Anna Maxwell crossed two seconds later in 19:58 for 30th-place and freshman Allie Schadler completed the top-seven in 32nd-place in 20:01.

Freshman Camila David-Smith was 34th overall in 20:08, then freshman Erica Schroeder was 47th in 20:21, crossing alongside freshman Shona McCulloch who raced unattached. Kiera Marshall took 55th while senior Grace Hodge was 70th and freshman Hannah Waskom was 81st.

"I think it was a little better effort than the Sundodger for the women," said Metcalf. "Emily Hamlin ran the best race of her career to this point. She's worked hard and is in a great place. Amy and Izzi were solid, Kaitlyn Neal and Nikki Zielinski ran tough. I think we got beat by three good teams that I think are all top-eight teams in the country right now. So we'll make progress and look to go run well again at Wisconsin."

The Huskies now have two weeks to prepare for the big fields of the Wisconsin Invitational, held on Oct. 13 in Madison.