Houser, Foerster Lead Dawgs At Wisconsin

Friday, October 13

Madison, WI

9:00 AM

University of Washington

Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational

October 13, 2023 | Cross Country

Complete Results

By: UW Athletic Communications

MADISON, Wisc. – In perhaps the toughest field of the season, and a larger field than the national championships, the Husky cross country teams turned in a solid effort in tough conditions at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational. The eighth-ranked UW women defeated nine Top-30 squads today, while the men got a top-20 individual finish from Luke Houser and outran two ranked squads.

The meet, held at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course, featured 36 men's teams and 33 women's teams, with 22 ranked teams in each field, eight of the top-10 on the men's side and seven of the top-10 on the women's side.

The Husky women's team went out aggressively and was fourth at the 2k split, but couldn't quite maintain that positioning and finished a respectable 13^th-place today, beating out the likes of 10^th-ranked Colorado, 14^th-ranked Providence, 18^th-ranked Furman, 20^th-ranked Utah, 21^st-ranked North Carolina, 23^rd-ranked Wisconsin, and a few more top-30 teams.

Houser had a second-straight impressive run leading the men, and Leo Daschbach also cracked the top-100, as the Huskies placed 27^th overall, earning head-to-head wins over 19^th-ranked Florida State and 27^th-ranked NC State. UW still held out 1500m national champs Joe Waskom and Nathan Green, who could potentially make big impacts in the championship meets coming up.

UW will turn its attention soon to hosting the final Pac-12 Championships in its current alignment, which is now two weeks away on Oct. 27 at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, Wash.

Women's Race

Chloe Foerster and Julia David-Smith followed up their breakout season opening runs with impressive efforts to finish in the top-50 today. Foerster led the Huskies for the first time in her career, as she was 40^th in a time of 20:39. She moved up nine places over the final 2k. David-Smith was very steady, ranging from 46-51 at all three 2k splits, finishing 50^th overall in 20:43.

One year ago, Foerster was 212^th at this meet, an improvement of 172 places, while David-Smith was not yet running after knee surgery. As a freshman in 2021, David-Smith was 175^th at this meet.

Sophie O'Sullivan went out in the top-20 through 2k, then struggled in the middle 2k but rallied again down the stretch to grab a 65^th-place finish as the third Husky scorer in 20:52. A year ago, O'Sullivan ran to 144^th-place. Fourth across was India Weir in 113^th-place in 21:11, and Tori Herman was the fifth scorer in 119^th in 21:17.

Ella Borsheim placed 129^th, Kosana Weir was 155^th, and Naomi Smith was 183^rd today.

Two more Huskies ran in the women's open race. Rosalie Fish, one day after receiving the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award from the Women's Sports Foundation in New York, dove back into racing and she was 63^rd in the open race. Redshirt freshman Alyssia Brown, donning the Husky singlet for the first time, finished 113^th.

Men's Race

Houser was up in the top-20 throughout the entire race until he dropped just a few seconds off the lead pack with about 1k to go. But he kept plowing ahead to the finish in 23:44 for a 16^th-place finish. Houser was just 73^rd and 74^th at this same meet each of the past two seasons.

Daschbach was 57 spots higher today than he was one year ago, finishing 93^rd in 24:21. Freshman Tyrone Gorze took 138^th overall in 24:36 and he was followed nine seconds later by redshirt freshman Jamar Distel in 159^th-place. Distel scores for the Dawgs for the first time today. Rounding out the scoring was another redshirt freshman, James Crabtree, who placed 218^th.

Ronan McMahon-Staggs finished 259^th in his Husky debut and Sam Affolder was 271^st to complete the Husky finishers.

Washington Cross Country
Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational
Madison, Wisc. | Thomas Zimmer Championship Course
Oct. 13, 2023

Women's 6,000-meters
Team Standings (Top-30 of 33): 1. Northern Arizona 52; 2. NC State 95; 3. Georgetown 208; 4. Stanford 227; 5. Florida 262; 6. Notre Dame 292; 7. Oregon State 315; 8. Cal Baptist 322; 9. Michigan State 342; 10. Lipscomb 363; 11. Iowa State 381; 12. Ole Miss 382; 13. Washington 383; 14. Colorado 395; 15. Utah 419; 16. Wisconsin 421; 17. Colorado State 437; 18. Furman 438; 19. Harvard 454; 20. Syracuse 480; 21. Duke 508; 22. North Carolina 510; 23. Portland 528; 24. Providence 536; 25. New Mexico 580; 26. Columbia 606; 27. Penn State 608; 28. Boise State 645; 29. Elon 686; 30. Florida State 725.
Individual Champion: Parker Valby, Florida, 19:17
Husky Competitors: 40. Chloe Foerster, 20:39; 50. Julia David-Smith, 20:43; 65. Sophie O'Sullivan, 20:52; 113. India Weir, 21:11; 119. Tori Herman, 21:17; 129. Ella Borsheim, 21:23; 155. Kosana Weir, 21:35; 183. Naomi Smith, 21:51.

Men's 8,000-meters
Team Standings (Top-30 of 36): 1. Northern Arizona 76; 2. BYU 162; 3. Syracuse 251; 4. Cal Baptist 272; 5. Texas 286; 6. Harvard 287; 7. Colorado 312; 8. Villanova 373; 9. Furman 394; 10. North Carolina 399; 11. Notre Dame 399; 12. Princeton 417; 13. Iowa State 426; 14. New Mexico 427; 15. Michigan 427; 16. Wake Forest 430; 17. Eastern Kentucky 437; 18. Boise State 483; 19. Air Force 487; 20. Stanford 489; 21. Iona 512; 22. Wisconsin 548; 23. Georgetown 572; 24. Butler 582; 25. Michigan State 585; 26. Gonzaga 592; 27. Washington 612; 28. Florida State 621; 29. Loyola 645; 30. Portland 661.
Individual Champion: Graham Blanks, Harvard, 23:23
Husky Competitors: 16. Luke Houser, 23:44; 93. Leo Daschbach, 24:21; 138. Tyrone Gorze, 24:36; 159. Jamar Distel, 24:45; 218. James Crabtree, 25:09; 259. Ronan McMahon-Staggs, 25:55; 271. Sam Affolder, 26:33.

Women's 6,000-meters Open
Husky Competitors: 63. Rosalie Fish, 22:47; 113. Alyssia Brown, 23:37.