University of Washington
UW - Seattle U. Open
Huskies Test Their Legs At Sunny Magnuson Park
September 02, 2011 | Cross Country
Sept. 2, 2011
Men's 4.5-Mile Results | Women's 3-Mile Results
SEATTLE - On a picturesque day at Magnuson Park on the shores of Lake Washington, the freezing temperatures and gray of recent NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana felt far away, but the Husky cross country squads have that goal in mind once again, and made some very early strides today at the first UW-Seattle U. Open.
Head Coach Greg Metcalf had made it plain that the race was essentially a work-out, and that the Huskies would be on controlled tempo runs. This one just happened to have a starting gun and a timing system and a number of purple-clad supporters down by the water and up on Kite Hill. The approximately 1.5-mile loop was run twice by the women and three times by the men.
The only difficulty that the day presented was to race officials that had to figure out some type of order for the finishers, because both the Husky men and women came to the line in large packs, with eight Husky women crossing with one second of each other, and nine UW men doing the same. Freshman Eleanor Fulton of Colorado was bumped across the line first and credited with the victory for the women, while sophomore Taylor Carlson edged out the pack for the men. Several athletes competed unattached, with the rule being if an athlete had previously redshirted, they would wear a UW jersey, and if not they stayed unattached.
The women were up first, with UW making a break from the Seattle pack and running strong together throughout. The top group finished the 3-mile run in 17-minutes, 13-seconds. That included Fulton, Megan Goethals, Phoebe Merritt, Liberty Miller, Justine Johnson, Katie Flood, Lindsay Flanagan, and Christine Babcock. Redshirt freshman Megan Morgan was next across, as she donned the jersey for the first time.
"What we witnessed today was our women acting like a very good team," said Metcalf. "A cross country team's success is not about the individual, it is about the team and that has to be our mantra. If we operate simply like we did today then our season is going to be lots of fun. We're only four days into this thing, but right now we are at a good place. The goal for the month of September is to be patient."
The men headed off next, with a large pack of unattached newcomers mixed in. They stuck together just as well as the women, coming to the finish in 22-minutes, 33-seconds. In the top group with Carlson was veterans Max O'Donoghue-McDonald, Joey Bywater, Michael Miller, and Gareth Gilna, and newcomers Meron Simon, Kyle Rae, and Tyler King.
Metcalf had thought the team would run around 23-minutes flat today so the faster time left him pleased. "It was exactly how it should look," he said. "For some of our freshmen to be right there with those guys I thought was awesome. With our older guys like Max, Joey, Gareth and Michael you can see the work that they've done this summer. And Taylor Carlson got his first collegiate victory today with his father visiting from Texas so that was great."
Washington will head to the coast next week for fall camp, staying at Seabrook north of Ocean Shores. They will open up the season in earnest with the Sundodger Invitational at Woodland Park in West Seattle on September 17.
Players Mentioned
