Huskies Pass Regional Test, Jordan Gets Title

Friday, November 15

Colfax, WA

11:30 AM

University of Washington

NCAA West Regionals

November 15, 2019 | Cross Country

Complete Women's Results Complete Men's Results

By: UW Athletic Communications

COLFAX, Wash. – Both Washington cross country squads navigated through the west's best today at the Colfax Golf Club, with the fourth-ranked UW women and 14th-ranked men coming up with the efforts they needed to advance to the NCAA Championships. The women cruised to second-place at the West Regional Championship to earn an automatic spot to NCAAs while the men, placing fourth, are projected to earn one of the at-large bids which will be officially announced tomorrow at 2 p.m.

While the collective team efforts were the focal point, Washington also received an historic win from senior Andrew Jordan, who became the first Husky male ever to win the West Regional title. Jordan and Portland's Emmanuel Roudolff-Levisse broke away from the rest of the field in the first kilometer and never were caught, with Jordan pulling away down the stretch to get the win in 29:43 over the 10,000-meters.

If, as expected, the men earn an at-large bid tomorrow, then the next stop for both Husky teams will be Terre Haute, where the NCAA Championships will be contested on Nov. 23 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course. The women are assured of their 13th-straight NCAA trip and the men will be expecting a third-straight and fifth in the last six years.

The first race was the women's 6k, where the Huskies dueled with No. 3 Stanford throughout. The Cardinal came out on top with 39 points with the Huskies in second with 49 points, a score that would have won the meet in eight of the past nine years, and which is tied for the best runner-up score since 2008.

Washington improved its 1-5 spread from 30 seconds at the Pac-12 Championships two weeks ago down to 19 seconds today. Freshman Mel Smart led the Dawgs in third-place in 19:58, with senior Katie Rainsberger sixth in 20:05. Sophomore Shona McCulloch was 11th in 20:12, junior Allie Schadler was 14th in 20:16, and senior Lilli Burdon was 15th in 20:17.

Camila David-Smith, Washington's No. 6 finisher in 20th-palce in 20:26, was ahead of every other team's No. 4 runner save for Stanford. Sophomore Haley Herberg capped the top-seven in 30th.

Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Maurica Powell was excited about the focus the group showed. "They were ready to get out and run hard. The regional meet is a hard thing because if you get too far ahead of yourself, looking at next week, it's hard to stay present. Everyone tried to pick something to work on to carry over to next week."

The top-six Huskies today all earn All-West Region honors, tying the 2008 NCAA title squad for most All-Region honorees in one year.

"As a group we put five in the top-15 and reduced their gap to only 19 seconds. Anything under 20 one to five is great," said Maurica Powell. "They were better this week than two weeks ago and are still improving."

Men's Head Coach Andy Powell said the men were looking at a top-four team finish with scoring around one-hundred points to advance out of the loaded West Region. The Huskies hit the top-four goal with 115 points today as Portland got the win with 65 points followed by Stanford with 78 and Oregon with 90.

After Jordan came through with the win, the next Husky across was Jack Rowe in 16th-place in 30:02. Junior Tibebu Proctor was 26th in 30:13, then Alex Slenning and Julius Diehr capped the scoring in 33rd and 39th, respectively.

"Really happy with how the team executed the race plan," Andy Powell said. "They definitely looked the best they have all year and executed the plan the best they have all year. The goal was for Andrew to finish as high up as possible, Jack and Tibs to run together which they did, and then the rest of the guys to run together, which they did."

The Huskies were able to advance while resting junior Talon Hull today, who Coach Powell fully expects to have back in the lineup at Nationals next week. Sophomore Isaac Green was also up with his teammates early on but had lost a shoe near the start and Coach Powell had him pull out today for precautionary reasons.

Washington Cross Country
NCAA West Regional Championships
November 15, 2019
Colfax, Wash. | Colfax Golf Club

Women's 6,000-meters
Team Standings (Top-20 of 35): 1. Stanford 39; 2. Washington 49; 3. Boise State 86; 4. Oregon 145; 5. Arizona 188; 6. Portland 245; 7. Oregon State 248; 8. UC Davis 266; 9. Washington State 272; 10. San Francisco 291; 11. UCLA 322; 12. California 323; 13. San Jose State 343; 14. Idaho 345; 15. Gonzaga 460; 16. Cal State Fullerton 481; 17. Arizona State 495; 18. Grand Canyon 500; 19. San Diego 564; 20. Cal Poly 583.
Individual Champion: Ella Donaghu, Stanford, 19:50.
Husky Competitors: 3. Mel Smart 19:58; 6. Katie Rainsberger 20:05; 11. Shona McCulloch 20:12; 14. Allie Schadler 20:16; 15. Lilli Burdon 20:17; 20. Camila David-Smith 20:26; 30. Haley Herberg 20:40.

Men's 10,000-meters
Team Standings (Top-20 of 28): 1. Portland 65; 2. Stanford 78; 3. Oregon 90; 4. Washington 115; 5. Boise State 133; 6. Gonzaga 148; 7. Washington State 177; 8. UCLA 181; 9. Idaho 329; 10. Cal Poly 333; 11. UC Santa Barbara 346; 12. Cal State Fullerton 385; 13. Pepperdine 454; 14. San Francisco 458; 15. Santa Clara 459; 16. UC Riverside 460; 17. San Jose State 478; 18. California 497; 19. UC Davis 497; 20. Portland State 500.
Individual Champion: Andrew Jordan, Washington, 29:43.
Husky Competitors: 1. Andrew Jordan 29:43; 16. Jack Rowe 30:02; 26. Tibebu Proctor 30:13; 33. Alex Slenning 30:36; 39. Julius Diehr 30:42; 64. Sam Tanner 31:12; -- Isaac Green DNF.