University of Washington
Wisconsin adidas Invitational
Nelson Leads Men To Key Top-10 Finish At Wisconsin
October 17, 2014 | Cross Country
2014 Wisconsin adidas Invitational Results
Men's 8,000m | Women's 6,000m
Men's Open 8k | Women's Open 6k
MADISON, Wisc. – Another banner day for senior Aaron Nelson at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational was made all the better this time around, as the rest of the Huskies ran strong behind Nelson's outstanding third-place finish, to give the 25th-ranked UW men an eighth-place team finish in the strongest and deepest field of the year. The 14th-ranked Husky women's team finished 13th overall, placing ahead of nine top-30 teams but behind 12 more, with junior Maddie Meyers leading the way in 40th.
The final race before the championship season begins, the Wisconsin meet, held at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course, is crucial for postseason positioning. With larger fields than will even compete at the NCAA Championships, the meet has a championship feel, with 22 of the 30 ranked women's teams racing and 19 of the top-30 men's teams.
It was the first top-10 finish at Wisconsin for the Husky men in the four years they've made the trip. They upset 10 teams ranked ahead of them, while six of the seven teams that finished ahead of UW were ranked in the top-10 entering the meet. And once again it was Nelson mixing it up with the best in the NCAA, and nearly pulling off what would have been the biggest individual win ever for a Husky male.
Last season, Nelson was fourth in this race, a breakout performance at the time that would eventually lead to a 20th-place NCAA finish and the first All-America honor for a Husky man in fifteen years. This year, Nelson was up in the lead pack early, and stayed around 25th until things began to break up, when he moved into a lead group of about ten. Heading into the last 800-meters, the Walla Walla native made another move and briefly grabbed the lead with about 600 to go. That move was quickly countered by Futsum Zienasellassie of Northern Arizona and Maxim Korolev of Stanford, and Nelson chased them in third. Korolev would hold the lead to win in 23:43 with Zienasellassie second and Nelson third in 23:51 for the 8,000-meters.
Nelson was lassoed by Flotrack.org right after the race for a live interview. In it, he said, “We were pretty slow throughout the beginning, so I knew I had to be near the front this year. Last year I worked my way up, but I knew that fast finish was coming. I tried to make a move with about 600-meters to go and separate away from that fast field. I knew I didn't have that last 100-meters speed, so I wanted to make a move a little farther out, and I guess it paid off.”
But the difference between 2013 and 2014 for the Husky men was the second through fifth finishers. Redshirt freshman Colby Gilbert rebounded from a tough season opener two weeks ago to run as the second Husky today in 53rd-place overall in 24:21. Junior Izaic Yorks was close behind in 57th, in 24:22, and junior Tyler King was just three seconds back from Yorks in 65th-place. Coming in to finish the top-five scorers was redshirt freshman A.J. Yarnall, placing 97th in a time of 24:37. Meron Simon was 150th and Jacob Smith 189th overall in the field of over 250 runners.
The men totaled 267 points to take eighth, upsetting a long list of higher-ranked teams including No. 11 Michigan, No. 12 BYU, No. 13 Providence, No. 16 New Mexico, No. 17 Arkansas, No. 18 Florida State, No. 19 Eastern Kentucky, No. 20 Oklahoma, No. 23 Indiana, and No. 24 Princeton. Seventh-ranked Syracuse got the win with 85 points, followed by 14th-ranked Iona with 154, then No. 9 Wisconsin with 176 and No. 5 Portland and No. 7 Stanford in fourth and fifth.
“This was a performance we've been waiting for from our men's team, but we need to continue to build on it and gain confidence from here,” said Head Coach Greg Metcalf. “The group was a little bit back at the halfway point and had to move up, but they were able to do that. Colby, Izaic, and Tyler, to be within four seconds of each other is great, and A.J. had his best race. Aaron Nelson was even better today than a year ago and with three races left in his cross country career has the chance to do some incredibly special things.”
In the women's race, the Huskies got off to a bit of a slow start but moved their way up gradually to finish in the upper half of the team standings. At the 2,000-meter mark, UW was just 23rd, but had climbed to 16th at the 4k and jumped up a few more spots to 13th at the finish.
Meyers was in the top-25 in the early going but slipped back to around 40th at the 4k mark. The junior held on to that position, finishing 40th overall in a time of 20:36. The best run of the year thus far from freshman Anna Maxwell was critically important, as Maxwell finished 55th as the second Husky in a time of 20:45. She was the No. 5 freshman in the field, and just three seconds from the No. 3 frosh.
Finishing third for the Dawgs was sophomore Kaylee Flanagan in 70th-place, a big improvement over her 107th-place finish as a freshman. Junior Eleanor Fulton placed 112th in 21:18, and redshirt freshman Kelly Lawson capped the scoring in 159th-place. Freshmen Anastasia Kosykh and Megan Beauchene finished side by side in 173rd and 174th in 21:49 and 21:50. Later in the day, Jenna Sanders also had a good showing in the open race, taking 12th in a time of 21:27 that would have placed 122nd in the main field.
The Huskies finished in front of 26th-ranked Minnesota, No. 25 Arizona State, No. 16 Boise State, No. 24 Dartmouth, No. 17 Boston College, No. 23 Providence, No. 30 BYU, No. 19 William & Mary, No. 28 Notre Dame, and UCLA and Ohio State teams that were receiving votes. Second-ranked Michigan State took the team title with 87 points and fifth-ranked Arkansas was the runner-up.
“It was a mixed bag a little bit on the women's side,” said Metcalf. “Anna had her best race yet as a Husky and showed some of the big talent that she possesses. Maddie, Kaylee and Eleanor all ran solid and better than they were a year ago at this meet. Making the top-10 as a team would have been a terrific day against this field, and we were just short of that. There is so much to learn from every race with a group this young, with four of our seven taking on a race of this size for the first time. They'll get better from it for sure.”
Washington now has two weeks to continue putting in work until the Pac-12 Championships arrive on Halloween, in Oakland.
Players Mentioned
