Izaic Yorks finishes seventh at adidas Wisconsin Invite, while UW women take eighth...

MADISON, Wisconsin—The Washington women’s cross country squad finished eighth in the uber-competitive adidas Wisconsin Invitational Friday at the Thomas Zimmer Championship course near the campus of the University of Wisconsin, while senior Izaic Yorks (left/photo by Paul Merca) gave the Huskies their third straight top-10 individual finish in the men’s race, as the Dawgs earned a 13th place team finish.

The adidas Wisconsin Invitational was Washington’s final tuneup race before the Pac-12 championship meet in two weeks in Colfax, and the meet featured many of the country’s top squads.

The women’s race had 20 teams ranked in the USTFCCCA national top 30, including Washington, which entered the meet ranked #10 in the national poll.

As she had in every race this season, Maddie Meyers led the way for the Huskies with her 29th place finish, running 20:19, as freshman Allie Ostrander of Boise State took the individual title over the 6k course in 19:20.

After pulling freshman Charlotte Prouse off the course with a mile to go (she had been ill going into the race), Katie Knight was Washington’s second runner in 52nd at 20:33, with Anna Maxwell one spot behind in the same time.  Kaylee Flanagan was 70th in 20:43, with Eleanor Fulton rounding out the UW scorers in 89th at 20:54.  Freshman Lindsey Bradley came in 105th at 21:03.

New Mexico took the team title with 32 points, as they placed five runners in the top 10, followed by Arkansas with 188 and Virginia at 217.

On the men’s side, Yorks led the way for the Dawgs over the 8k course, finishing seventh in 23:40, as Tulsa’s Marc Scott won in 23:35.

Andrew Gardner had his best race as a Husky, finishing 65th in 24:16, followed by All-American Tyler King in 83rd at 24.22.  Johnathan Stevens was 124th at 24:34, with Fred Huxham, who was battling illness as well, gutting it out for a 134th place finish in 24:38 to round out the Washington scorers.

Charlie Barringer was 170th in 24:55, and Mahmoud Moussa was 181st in 25:00.

Syracuse won the team title with 101 points, followed by BYU with 186, and Michigan with 218.  UCLA was the only Pac-12 school to finish ahead of UW in ninth with 334 points.

In the women’s open race, the Huskies finished second with 45 points behind Arkansas’ 31.  Emily Hamlin led the way for UW with her second place finish in 20:57. Nikki Hiltz of Arkansas won in 20:54.

“Results were a bit mixed but in the end I think we accomplished what we needed to in terms of points for the national championships,” said UW coach Greg Metcalf. “We’ve had to deal with some sickness on the squad, and today Fred Huxham was having trouble breathing, and Charlotte Prouse was ill and got to a mile in and we pulled her off the course.

“Izaic ran phenomenal today, Andrew Gardner had a great day, our women finished eighth and beat some good teams, and you put Charlotte back in there I think we’re still right in the mix.”

Among notables with Washington ties competing Friday, UW alum Meron Simon, who is using his final year of eligibility at NC State, finished 23rd in the men’s race in 23:55. Portland’s Keegan Symmes, who attended Skyline HS, was 123rd in 24:34, while Seattle Prep alum Joe Hardy from host Wisconsin was 159th in 24:49.

Washington alum Chelsea Orr, who is a graduate student at Baylor, finished 195th in 21:53.


NOTE:  The University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin contributed to this report.

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