Washington State University Athletics
WSU Women Win, Men Take 13th at Pre-Nats Invite
October 17, 2015 | Cross Country
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Washington State women won the Black race and the Cougar men took 13th in the Red race Saturday morning at the DI Pre-Nationals Cross Country Invitational at the E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky., site of the Nov. 21 NCAA DI Championships.
Both teams had better finishes than several nationally-ranked and regionally-ranked teams, an important factor in the bid for at-large berths in the NCAA Championships, Nov. 21 on the same Sawyer Park course.
WSU sophomore Michael Williams (Richland, Wash.) was the first Cougar man to cross the finish line at 36th overall on the 8,000m course with a time of 23 minutes, 49.7 seconds. Junior John Whelan was 47th with a time of 23:54.9. The rest of the WSU men scoring were Sam Levora 99th (24:18.9), Chandler Teigen 131st (24:31.3), and Nathan Wadhwani 132nd (24:31.8). Also competing Saturday were Nathan Tadesse (186th, 24:49.9), and Paul Ryan (254th, 25:21.3). Thomas Curtin from Virginia Tech won the Red race in a time of 23:18.2.
The Pac-12 was well-represented as No. 1 Colorado won the men's team title with 89 points followed by No. 3 Oregon with 151. The other teams finishing in the top 15 places were: 3. No. 13 Arkansas 164, 4. No. 13 UTEP 197, 5. No. 10 Georgetown 214, 6. Virginia Tech 223, 7. No. 22 California 300, 8. No. 29 Air Force 318, 9. No. 23 Colorado State 351, 10. UC Santa Barbara 374, 11. No. 17 Louisville 401, 12. No. 25 Southern Utah 428, 13. Washington State 445, 14. Cornell 455, and 15. Eastern Michigan 471.
WSU, ranked ninth in the West Region, finished ahead of several regionally-ranked team including 14. Cornell No. 5 in Northeast Region, 15. Eastern Michigan, No. 6 in Great Lakes Region, 16. Texas, No. 2 in South Central Region, 17. Duke, No. 7 in Southeast Region, 18. San Francisco, No. 7 in West Region, 19. Yale, No. 7 in Northeast Region, 20. Purdue, No. 5 in Great Lakes Region, 21. Ohio State, No. 7 in Great Lakes Region, 27. Florida, No. 5 in South Region, and 35. Georgia, No. 2 in South Region.
“Both teams had very good races. The men beat several nationally-ranked teams and potentially scored key points to help us qualify for nationals,” WSU Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Wayne Phipps said. “Michael and John had fantastic races and it was great experience for our freshmen who competed well. We will need to close our I-5 gap by the end of the year but I am very confident we will be able to do that.”
Senior CharLee Linton (Shoreline, Wash.) led the Cougar women with her eighth-place finish in the women's 6,000m Black race in a time of 21:00.1. Sophomore Devin Bortfeld took 17th in a time of 21:13.6 and Morgan Willson was 21st in a time of 21:24.3. The final scorers for WSU were Steffie Pavey at 24th in a time of 22:00.8, and Emily Dwyer at 66th in a time of 22:01.3. Also competing Saturday were Anisa Allaet (134th, 22:40.3) and Alexys Garcia (164th, 22:59.5). The individual winner was Allie Buchalski from Furman with a time of 20:17.3.
Washington State won the women's team title with a score of 176, followed by Buffalo with 183, Arizona with 203, UC Davis with 239, and Louisville with 252.
The WSU are ranked 14th in the West Region and finished ahead of several other regionally-ranked teams: 3. Arizona No. 11 in West Region, 4. UC Davis No. 13 in West Region, 6. Central Michigan No. 11 in Great Lakes Region, 8. Xavier No. 13 in Great Lakes Region, and 10. Indiana No. 6 in Great Lakes Region.
“The women executed the race plan very well,” Phipps said. “We were third at halfway and closed very strongly. Steffie passed close to ten people in the final 400m. On top of winning, we beat a few teams ranked ahead of us in our region, which was one of our main goals.”
Several Cougars also competed at the Inland Empire Challenge in Lewiston, Idaho. WSU men and their finishes on the 8k course: Jake Finney, 9th (24:47); Kyler Little, 16th (25:18); and Alex Simpson, 29th (26:08). Cougar women and their finishes on the 5k course: Katherine Dittmann, 6th (18:08); Amanda Henderson, 11th (18:35), and Natalie Ackerley, 32nd (20:25).
In next competition for the WSU hosts the Pac-12 Championships Oct. 30 at the Colfax Golf Club in Colfax, Wash.
Players Mentioned
