Women Get Big Victory At Pre-National Invite

Saturday, October 19

Terre Haute, IN

8:00 AM

University of Washington

Pre-Nationals

October 19, 2019 | Cross Country

Pre-Nationals Women's Results Pre-Nationals Men's Results

By: UW Athletic Communications

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Washington's women's cross country squad picked up its biggest win yet under Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Maurica Powell, besting a great field to win the Pre-National Invitational at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course that will host NCAAs next month. The Husky men's squad also turned in a solid effort with a fourth-place finish today.

The women's team won Pre-Nationals for the third time and first since winning back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009. The eighth-ranked Huskies ran composed and ran together, with the exception of senior Katie Rainsberger who was at the front of the race throughout and led the women with a sixth-place finish. But behind her it was the depth of the squad that moved up consistently throughout the race to secure the team win.

"Their execution was what was best about it," said Powell about the Husky victory. "Katie did exactly what she intended to do and behind her we had Lilli, Shona, and Allie running the whole race together until the final stretch, and Camila did a really nice job sitting off of those guys and closing the last 2k."

It was a tight final tally, as the results sorted out and shifted around. At first, the scores showed Washington and No. 2 BYU in a tie at 90-90, but as results continued to come in the Huskies gained a one point edge and when the dust settled it was the Huskies holding off the Cougars, 84 to 87. Third-ranked Colorado was third with 126 points and seventh-ranked Michigan was fourth with 164 followed by 11th-ranked Florida State in fifth with 204.

All told the Huskies defeated nine of the top-30 teams in the most recent USTFCCCA Coaches Poll today. Washington moved up well throughout the race as it was fifth at the 2,000-meter split then had climbed to second just two points back of BYU at the 4k split.

Rainsberger was at the very front of the lead pack for the entire race, coming through in 20-minutes and 14-seconds to finish sixth overall. Sophomore Shona McCulloch had one of her best ever runs today as she was 12th in 20:30. Senior Lilli Burdon and junior Allie Schadler crossed side-by-side in 21st and 22nd, respectively, in matching 20:38 times. Sophomore Camila David-Smith then capped the scoring with a 28th-place finish in 20:42. Senior Kaitlyn Neal was 80th today and junior Hannah Waskom was 104th in the field of more than 250 runners.

McCulloch and David-Smith made the biggest moves from early in the race to help the Huskies get the win today. McCulloch was 40th at the 2k split, then 23rd at the 4k split, and she gained 11 more spots over the final two-thousand meters. David-Smith went from 63rd to 33rd between the 2k and 4k splits, and then gained five more crucial places in the latter third of the race.

"They were really tough and got excited late in the race and that's hard to do when you're tired, at the most challenging part of a training block. We will start to take it down over the next month but right now they are handling a high load across the board so to see them tough it out despite being fatigued was pretty fun to watch."

The women's victory also came while freshman Mel Smart took a planned week of rest after leading UW at the first two meets of the season.

"Mel already ran two high level meets and as a freshman we want to use her little as possible," Powell said. "We've already used her twice so we wanted to spend this weekend resting because we don't have the luxury with our conference and our region to sit after this. There's no opportunity to not run your best lineup so it was a great weekend for her to not have to compete."

The Husky men's team ran its way to a fourth-place finish, out-pacing six Top-30 squads including 8th-ranked Ole Miss today. The men scored 160 points as second-ranked BYU got the win on the men's side with 81 points just ahead of third-ranked Colorado with 83, and 21st-ranked Iona crashed the top-10 party taking third with 140 points.

Senior Andrew Jordan, a transfer from Iowa State, was the top Husky finisher as he turned in an impressive seventh-place effort in a time of 23:33 for the 8,000-meter course. Junior Talon Hull got a top-25 finish as he was 23rd in 23:57, and junior Tibebu Proctor was 31st in 24:09. Senior Mick Stanovsek was the No. 4 scorer in 46th-place and junior Jack Rowe finished in 53rd in 24:28 to cap the points. Julius Diehr was the sixth man in 72nd in a time of 24:36 and Alex Slenning was 80th in 24:40.

Head Coach Andy Powell said the men executed the race plan well, working together in the big field, but they will need to close their gap from one to five.

"Most of our guys haven't raced in a month so it was a good rust-buster and a wake-up call before conference in two weeks," he said. "We faced a good Colorado team today and we've got to get a lot better and close the gap, but we're definitely a much better a team than we showed today. We're healthy and on track and just need to clean a few things up and get ready for the postseason."

More Huskies raced in the Open Races later in the afternoon. On the men's side, freshman Sam Tanner impressed with a third-place finish in a time of 24:40 and junior Gavin Parpart was a few spots back in seventh in 25:06. Isaac Mohn placed 21st and Nick Laccinole was 70th.

In the women's Open Race, freshman Andrea Markezich ran 22:00 for 15th overall and junior Kiera Marshall was 17th in 22:09 followed by Erica Schroeder in 27th-place in 22:31.

Washington will now prepare for the 2019 Pac-12 Championships, which are just two weeks away on Nov. 1 down in Monmouth, Oregon.

Washington Cross Country
Pre-National Invitational
October 19, 2019
Terre Haute, Ind. | LaVern Gibson Championship Course

Women's 6,000m Blue Race
Team Standings (Top-25 of 37): 1. Washington 84; 2. BYU 87; 3. Colorado 126; 4. Michigan 164; 5. Florida State; 6. Illinois 268; 7. Virginia Tech 292; 8. Butler 306; 9. Boston College 358; 10. Ole Miss 376; 11. Oklahoma State 380; 12. Boise State 383; 13. Yale 412; 14. Duke 444; 15. Vanderbilt 494; 16. North Carolina 502; 17. Wichita State 525; 18. Kentucky 532; 19. Alabama 534; 20. Cornell 567; 21. California 573; 22. Liberty 579; 23. UC Davis 585; 24. Iowa 597; 25. Weber State 610.
Individual Champion: Erica Birk, BYU, 20:02.
Husky Competitors: 6. Katie Rainsberger 20:14; 12. Shona McCulloch 20:30; 21. Lilli Burdon 20:38; 22. Allie Schadler 20:38; 28. Camila David-Smith 20:42; 80. Kaitlyn Neal 21:14; 104. Hannah Waskom 21:31.

Women's 6,000m Open Race
Husky Competitors: 15. Andrea Markezich 22:00; 17. Kiera Marshall 22:09; 27. Erica Schroeder 22:31.

Men's 8,000m Blue Race
Team Standings (Top-25 of 37): 1. BYU 81; 2. Colorado 83; 3. Iona 140; 4. Washington 160; 5. Ole Miss 174; 6. Florida State 250; 7. Virginia Tech 252; 8. Villanova 297; 9. Weber State 307; 10. Iowa 322; 11. Oklahoma State 397; 12. Minnesota 435; 13. Arkansas 438; 14. Campbell 474; 15. Nebraska 493; 16. Montana State 497; 17. North Carolina 502; 18. Butler 524; 19. Kansas 532; 20. Liberty 534; 21. South Dakota State 543; 22. Dartmouth 569; 23. Yale 576; 24. Duke 587; 25. Louisville 589.
Individual Champion: Conner Mantz, BYU, 23:20.
Husky Competitors: 7. Andrew Jordan 23:33; 23. Talon Hull 23:57; 31. Tibebu Proctor 24:09; 46. Mick Stanovsek 24:24; 53. Jack Rowe 24:28; 72. Julius Diehr 24:36; 80. Alex Slenning 24:40.

Men's 8,000m Open Race
Husky Competitors: 3. Sam Tanner 24:40; 7. Gavin Parpart 25:06; 21. Isaac Mohn 25:35; 70. Nick Laccinole 26:39.