Women Impress Again With Pre-Nationals Second

Saturday, October 19

Madison, WI

8:00 AM

University of Washington

Pre-Nationals

October 19, 2024 | Cross Country

Results on TFRRS

By: UW Athletic Communications

MADISON, Wisc. – It wasn't a win, but it was perhaps even more impressive of a performance for the Husky women's cross country team today. In their second run of the season at the Thomas Zimmer Championships Course, the third-ranked Huskies finished second in the Pre-Nationals meet, in the process beating out No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 5 NC State, finishing behind only No. 2 BYU.

Washington had won the Wisconsin Invitational in its last race three weeks ago, but while that was another loaded field, it did not feature the top-three teams in the country. Pre-Nationals had all of the top-five squads on hand, including the Dawgs. BYU took the top spot, but the Huskies proved that they are a legitimate trophy contender if they continue their current path to the NCAA Championships next month.

NCAAs would be a third run in Madison, but before then the Huskies will head to the Big Ten Championships and the West Regional Championships over the next few weeks.

The 13th-ranked Husky men's team held back its top-four finishers from the Wisconsin Invite and five of its top-seven, letting several younger Dawgs gain some experience. The men's team finished 24th overall, still defeating three ranked squads despite the inexperienced lineup today.

The women scored 157 points for second behind BYU's 105 points. No. 1 Northern Arizona was third with 166. West Virginia was fourth with 207, fourth-ranked Notre Dame was fifth with 216, 17th-ranked New Mexico got up for sixth with 236, and 5th-ranked NC State was seventh with 293. There were 33 total teams, and 18 of them came in ranked in the top-30 of the coaches poll.

The Dawg Pack coming across the line.

After Chloe's 16th-place finish, the 2-6 Huskies were within 15 seconds of each other.

1??6?? Foerster
2??8?? Weir
3??0?? Stiles
4??1?? David-Smith
4??2?? O'Sullivan
5??1?? Maatoug#GoHuskies ?? Runnerspace pic.twitter.com/DFC1Im6Nha
— Washington Track & Field and Cross Country (@UWTrack) October 19, 2024

Director Maurica Powell said, "The women were great. Our top-five from Nuttycombe all improved between 15 and 50 seconds on the same course with similar conditions, and they managed the chaos of the bigger field really well. I thought attitude and effort were on point today across the board. We were tough and competitive and moved up the whole race."

India Weir led the Huskies for much of the race, but then Chloe Foerster made a powerful late kick to wind up as the lead Dawg in 16th-place in 19:50. Washington had just 25 seconds from its first finisher (Foerster) to its sixth (Amina Maatoug).

Weir was the second Husky in 28th-place in 20:00. Maeve Stiles was 30th in 20:02, then Julia David Smith was 41st in 20:09, and Sophie O'Sullivan was 42nd in her season debut in 20:10. Maatoug was five seconds back in 51st-place. O'Sullivan moved up the most over the final split, gaining 21 spots from 4k to 6k.

"Chloe had a monster last 1,000-meters and India raised her bar again and ran the best race I've seen her run," said Powell. "Maeve and Julia were both rock solid and Sophie was fantastic in her first race post-Olympics as she's just getting back training. Amina was 25 seconds faster than three weeks ago and is on a great trajectory coming back from surgery and she's really putting the pieces together in training. I'm excited to get back to work."

The men's team was led by Ronan McMahon-Staggs for the first time, as he placed 82nd overall in 23:44. Rhys Hammond was second in 89th-place and Thom Diamond had his best cross country race so far with a 101st-place finish in 23:54. James Crabtree was the No. 4 scorer in 160th, and Ben MacMillan made his Husky debut and capped the scoring at No. 173. Three redshirt freshmen rounded out the lineup, with Isaac Briggs placing 193rd, Will Schneider placing 211th, and Cruize Corvin in 236th.

The men scored 596 points for 24th-place out of 32 teams. UW still finished ahead of 27th-ranked Florida State, 28th-ranked Air Force, and 29th-ranked Texas.

UW will now go after its first Big Ten Championship in two weeks, on Nov. 1 in Champaign, Ill.

Washington Cross Country
Pre-Nationals
Oct. 19, 2024
Madison, Wisc. | Thomas Zimmer Championship Course

Women's 6,000-meters Championship
Team Standings (Top-25 of 33): 1. BYU 105; 2. Washington 157; 3. Northern Arizona 166; 4. West Virginia 207; 5. Notre Dame 216; 6. New Mexico 236; 7. NC State 293; 8. Wisconsin 348; 9. Florida State 364; 10. Florida 368; 11. Stanford 374; 12. Oklahoma State 412; 13. Minnesota 417; 14. Furman 420; 15. Syracuse 457; 16. Lipscomb 480; 17. Michigan State 490; 18. Texas 499; 19. Toledo 520; 20. Boston College 534; 21. Liberty 546; 22. Harvard 561; 23. Arkansas 568; 24. Utah Valley 571; 25. Tennessee 579.
Individual Champion: Pamela Kosgei, New Mexico, 18:59.
Husky Finishers: 16. Chloe Foerster 19:50; 28. India Weir 20:00; 30. Maeve Stiles 20:02; 41. Julia David-Smith 20:09; 42. Sophie O'Sullivan 20:10; 51. Amina Maatoug 20:15; 219. Saskia Lloyd 21:41; 232. Tori Herman 21:51.

Women's Open Race
Husky Finishers: 10. Ella Borsheim 21:19; 18. Claire Yerby 21:30; 21. Josephine Welin 21:33; 38. Sam Tran 21:52.

Men's 8,000-meters Championship
Team Standings (Top-25 of 32): 1. Arkansas 89; 2. Iowa State 128; 3. Stanford 142; 4. New Mexico 166; 5. Northern Arizona 178; 6. Wisconsin 199; 7. Notre Dame 200; 8. Syracse 258; 9. Cal Baptist 312; 10. Harvard 327; 11. Utah State 407; 12. Wyoming 407; 13. Furman 410; 14. Colorado 418; 15. Eastern Kentucky 431; 16. Butler 435; 17. Iona 473; 18. Michigan State 478; 19. Tulsa 492; 20. Tulane 503; 21. Indiana 509; 22. Michigan 522; 23. Cal Poly 571; 24. Washington 596; 25. Ole Miss 613.
Individual Champion: Hambtom Samuel, New Mexico, 22:33.
Husky Finishers: 82. Ronan McMahon-Staggs 23:44; 89. Rhys Hammond 23:46; 101. Thom Diamond 23:54; 160. James Crabtree 24:23; 173. Ben MacMillan 24:26; 193. Isaac Briggs 24:35; 211. Will Schneider 24:53; 236. Cruize Corvin 25:46.