University of Washington
UW-Seattle U. Open
Huskies Cap Productive Week One At Magnuson Park
August 30, 2014 | Cross Country
SEATTLE – A busy first week of the season for the UW cross country squads was capped off by a trip out to Magnuson Park for the UW-Seattle U Open this afternoon. The Huskies, with both teams ranked in the preseason poll for the first time since 2009, used the day as an early season tempo run and a gauge of the group's fitness.
The first day of practice came on Monday, with UW heading for a run at Rattlesnake Lake on Wednesday, and then Thursday the Huskies spent several hours doing clean-up and landscape work in the Washington Park Arboretum, giving back to a place where they frequently train. Today, many Huskies got to put on the uniform for the first time, although all Huskies who have never redshirted ran unattached and sported some colorful choices of attire.
The women ran a three-mile loop around Magnuson, and a large group gradually spread out until three Huskies finished a few seconds up front, led by freshman Anna Maxwell from Felton, Calif. in 16:53. Right behind her in 16:54 was junior Maddie Meyers and sophomore Kaylee Flanagan. Freshman Megan Beachene from Kennewick, Wash. was the fourth Husky overall, in fifth place, in 17:05, then came redshirt freshman Kelly Lawson in sixth in 17:14. Jenna Sanders and Erin Johnson crossed together in seventh and eighth and freshman Anastasia Kosykh finished out the top-10.
Head Coach Greg Metcalf saw a new group learning to operate without a number of seniors from last season's squad. “This was the first tempo run post-Megan Goethals, Lindsay Flanagan, Justine Johnson, with Katie Flood and Liberty Miller just having track left as well,” said Metcalf. “So we have lots of really good youngsters on the women's side. Anna Maxwell and Megan Beauchene looked great. Kaylee Flanagan had a great summer of training. That group of young women I think is pretty exciting and when you add Katie Knight, Eleanor Fulton and Amy-Eloise Neale in the mix, I think that's a team that come November has the potential to be good.”
The men ran an extra loop to make 4.5-miles, and the Huskies and Redhawks had a very big group for the first two loops before finding some separation on the final lap. Junior Tyler King, who ran among UW's top-seven last fall but redshirted the track season, showed he was back in good shape as he pulled away to win by three seconds in 22:06. Redshirt freshman A.J. Yarnall and junior Meron Simon went 3-4 in matching 22:18 times. Ross, Calif. freshman Fred Huxham, the state track champ at 3,200-meters, was sixth at the front of a group of three Huskies finishing in 22:23, along with 1,500m All-American Izaic Yorks and cross country All-American Aaron Nelson. Five more Husky men came across in a pack at 22:29, including Johnathan Stevens, Tim Cummings, Jacob Smith, Sumner Goodwin, and Nick Harris.
“I think this is the deepest group of young men we've had in a long time,” said Metcalf. “It's nice to see Tyler King who healthy and he had a great summer, and he wanted to get that win today. The rest of the guys it was a relatively controlled tempo effort. So I think we walk away from the meet with a lot of positives but now we have to go to work and be better a month from now.”
The Dawgs will head to Seabrook on the Washington coast next Tuesday for a week of training camp, before stepping things up for the annual Sundodger Invitational on Sept. 20 out at Lincoln Park in West Seattle.
Players Mentioned
