WSU CROSS COUNTRY HOSTS “RUST-BUSTER” MEET
The Washington State men's and women's cross country teams start the 2015 season Sept. 1, hosting the Clash of the Inland Northwest meet at the Colfax Golf Club in Colfax, Wash...competing teams are Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Idaho, Whitworth and Lewis-Clark State...shorter distances to start the season and shake off the “rust” of summer months...men's 6,000m race begins at 6 p.m. and women's 4,000m race follows at 6:30 p.m....there will be dual meet team scoring for all the NCAA DI schools...meet is held at the site of the 2015 Pac-12 Cross Country Championships...team and individual results will be available at wsucougars.com, when available post-race.
WAYNE PHIPPS, DIRECTOR OF WSU CROSS COUNTRY/TRACK & FIELD
Wayne Phipps (University of British Columbia '91) become the 15th coach to take the reins of the Washington State men's program and the second coach for the combined men's and women's program at WSU on July 1, 2014...Phipps had been the University of Idaho's Director and Track & Field/Cross Country from 2010 through 2014, and was a coach with the Vandals program for a total of 19 years...he served as co-head coach from 2000-09, after serving as an assistant coach from 1995-99... while at Idaho, Phipps was honored 14 times as a conference coach of the year and led the Vandals to a record 16 total conference titles.
ALLIX POTRATZ-LEE, ASSISTANT COACH
Allix Potratz-Lee joined the WSU track and field coaching staff in July 2014 after an outstanding career as a student-athlete and coach at the University of Idaho... member of the Idaho cross country/track and field coaching staff starting in 2010 as an assistant to
Wayne Phipps, working primarily with the distance corps...Vandals' women's cross country team won WAC team titles in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.. she was a five-time WAC champion, a 10-time first-team all-WAC honoree and a two-time ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-American...she helped Idaho cross country capture the 2005 and 2007 XC team titles,and claimed the 2008 individual WAC cross country crown.
ABOUT THE 2015 COUGAR MEN
The 2015 Cougar men's cross country team is so youthful that eight of the 13 competing runners will have only had seven days of class by the time they race wearing WSU singlets for the first time. On paper this looks like a rebuilding year but Coach Phipps said no, “The talent and leadership returning along with a very talented freshman class makes this a team well beyond a rebuilding year and one that can compete very well.” Junior
John Whelan is the “senior-most” upperclassman with the most cross country experience. Last fall Whelan was third on the team and 38th overall at the Pac-12 Championships and second on the team and 54th overall at the NCAA West Region. The freshmen will be contributing “by committee” according to Phipps who took the team on a 10-day high altitude preseason camp. The handful who contribute will be different from race to race.
Paul Ryan from nearby Moscow, Idaho, has had an outstanding high school career. Other frosh with impressive credentials incluse Cole Christman,
Jake Finney, Kyler Litter,
Reid Muller, Nathan Tadese,
Chandler Teigen and
Nathan Wadhwani. Sophomores who gained valuable experience last fall and should be among the “veteran” leaders include
Sam Levora, and
Michael Williams.
ABOUT THE 2015 COUGAR WOMEN
While the 2015 WSU women's cross country team has a solid group of returnees, Coach Phipps plans to also rely heavily on the eight freshmen. Senior CharLee Linton is coming off an outstanding 2014-15 season and Phipps is impressed with her level of fitness seen during the preseason 10-day high altitude camp. “Every year she's made significant improvements and this year is going to be no different,” Phipps said. Linton etched her name in the books as WSU's 10k record holder (34:03.69) last spring. Phipps said that was a realization for Linton that she was able to compete at such a high level. Junior Ashlie Standow came on very strong at the end of the 2014 season with the thrid-best finish on team at Pac-12 and NCAA West Region meets. Sophomore Devon Bortfeld had an outstanding collegiate debut year and was a consistent scorer during the 2014 cross country season along with junior Morgan WIllson. Senior Emily Dwyer has shown improvement in each previous XC season and plans to be along side Linton as a leader for the freshmen. That rookie class brings credible prep accomplishments and Phipps looks to see several names among the Cougar scorers in meets this fall depending on how quickly they adapt to collegiate training and distances. The WSU women frosh include Natalie Ackerley, Anisa Allaet, Betsy Arlt, Josie Brown, Katherine Dittman, Tracy Myers, Grace Victor and Breya Wynne.
