WSU XC Men Capture Top 10 Finish at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational

Friday, October 14

Madison, Wis.

TBD

Washington State University

Wisconsin Invitational

WSU XC Men Capture Top 10 Finish at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational

October 14, 2016 | Cross Country

WSU Results Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitge

By: Washington State Athletic Communications

MADISON, Wisc. -- The Washington State men's cross country team finished ninth among 28 teams at the highly-competitive Eighth Annual Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational Friday at the Thomas Zimmer Cross Country Course in Madison, Wisc.

The Cougar men's cross country team, receiving votes in the most recent United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) top 30 rankings, had the highest finish by a non-ranked team among a field that had 19 ranked teams and another six team receiving votes.

No. 1 Northern Arizona won the men's team title with 78 points, followed by runner-up No. 11 Stanford with 118 points and third-place No. 3 BYU with 144 points. The remaining men's teams in the top ten included: 4. No. 2 Syracuse 167; 5. No. 8 Iona 240; 6. No. 27 UCLA; 7. No. 7 Portland; 8. No. 14 Iowa State 260; 9. WSU (RV) 283;, and 10. No. 21 Colorado State 298. The rest of the men's team finishes were: 11. No. 16 Wisconsin 313; 12. Southern Utah (RV) 347; 13. No. 26 Tulsa 367; 14. No. 17 Georgetown 399; 15. No. 18 Boise State 413; 16. No. 23 Washington 416; 17. Eastern Michigan 421; 18. No. 22 Michigan State 436; 19. No. 24 Providence and No.25 Penn 486; 21. Florida State 524; 22. Minnesota (RV) 540; 23. South Dakota State 555; 24. North Carolina State (RV) 578; 25. Columbia (RV) 582; 26. No. 15 Eastern Kentucky 599; 27. No. 29 Illinois; and 28. Princeton (RV) 634.

WSU's Michael Williams (junior, Richland, Wash.) led the Cougars with a 15th-place finish, running the 8000m course in a time of 24 minutes, 11.4 seconds. John Whelan (senior, Etna, Calif.) was the second WSU man to cross the finish line at 23rd in a time of 24:21.9. The other WSU scorers were: Chandler Teigen 67th (24:47.2), Sam Levora 68th (24:47.8), and Nathan Wadhwani 110th (25:06.3). Also racing Friday were Paul Ryan 158th (25:31.1) and Nathan Tadesse 160th (25:37.3. Syracuse junior Justyn Knight won the individual title with a time of 23:53.1 with the top Pac-12 individual being Stanford sophomore Grant Fisher in fourth place (23:55.5).

"We came in a little humbled from an off day at Notre Dame (Sept. 30) so everyone was really ready to get after it," Whelan, men's team captain, said. "Boosted by a couple of great performances from Michael and Chandler we got the job done today, scoring points against a lot out-of-region teams that will help us towards NCAA qualifying."

In the Women's Open race, the WSU squad finished fourth with junior Devon Bortfeld (Sammamish, Wash.) leading the way with a fourth-place finish on the 6000m course in a time of 21:22.9. Other Cougar women scoring were Morgan Willson 18th (21:57.1), Josie Brown 34th (22:24.9), Morgan Lash 35th (22:25.8), and Jenaya Pynn 46th (22:34.9). Also competing for WSU were Katherine Dittmann 62nd (23:13.4) and Melissa Hruska 67th (23:47.7).

The WSU women scored 137 points, behind Michigan State 45, Texas A&M 108, and North Carolina State 113 in the 12-team field. Washington's Isobel Batt-Doyle won the individual title in a time of 21:05.0.

"Today was definitely a step in the right direction," Bortfeld said. "We have a young team that's getting their race legs underneath them, but our progress today suggests we'll be ready when we need to be: Pac-12s and Regionals."

"Great races on both sides," WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Wayne Phipps said. "I thought our women raced a lot better than two weeks ago and Devon is having a great season. She's doing a fantastic job of leading this team on and off the field. The men did exactly what they needed to do as our goal was to finish in the top 10 in a race that is essentially a preview of the teams we hope to face at nationals. We beat several top 25 teams, scoring a lot of potential points for nationals. The nice thing is we still didn't have our best race and there is so much improvement left in this team."

Cougars will also have men and women competing Saturday, October 15 at the Inland Empire Championships in Lewiston, Idaho. The Pac-12 Cross Country Championships are Oct. 28 at the Randolph North Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz.