University of Washington
Sundodger Invitational
Meyers And Nelson Win Sundodger Titles
September 20, 2014 | Cross Country
Collegiate Events
Women's Invitational | Men's Invitational
Women's Open | Men's Open
High School Events
Girls Varsity | Boys Varsity
Girls Junior Varsity | Boys Junior Varsity
SEATTLE – Senior All-American Aaron Nelson became just the second Husky and third man in 23 years to successfully defend his title at the Sundodger Invitational, and he was joined in the winner's circle on the women's side by junior Maddie Meyers, as the Seattle product earned the first big collegiate win of her career today at Lincoln Park.
The annual season-opener for the Husky cross country teams, the Sundodger once again enjoyed perfect weather after some early clouds burned away. The 14th-ranked Husky women's team earned the victory for the eighth year in a row, but Washington was denied a sweep of the team titles, as Washington State upset the 27th-ranked UW men to snap a seven-year run for the Dawgs on their home course.
The women had six runners in the top-20 to score a total of 25 points and finish ahead of WashingtonState which scored 42, and FresnoState which posted 80 and Seattle U with 89. The men's race quickly turned into a dual meet, with five Huskies and five Cougars breaking clear at one point in a back and forth battle, but the Cougars came out ahead with 24 points to the 33 of the Huskies. FresnoState was third with 91 and Seattle fourth at 107.
The women's 6,000-meter invitational was up first, with Meyers the only runner on the line today who ran at the 2013 NCAA Championships for the Huskies. She showed her composure and fitness level, running up front from the start, and going with Sarah Inglis of Trinity Western when Inglis tried to break free. Meyers said she made a move on a late hill and the NorthwestSchool product ended up running away for a nine-second victory, crossing in 20-minutes, 21-seconds. Inglis was second in 20:30.
“It feels really good,” Meyers said of the win. “This I guess is technically my first collegiate win, so that's pretty cool. This is by far my best collegiate 6k, so it's exciting.”
Following Meyers for the Huskies was sophomore Kaylee Flanagan in sixth-place, and true freshman Anna Maxwell in her Husky debut in seventh in 21:04. Redshirt freshman Kelly Lawson earned a 10th-place finish in 21:22, in her first cross country race in two years. Capping the scoring was true freshman Megan Beauchene, the Kamiakin grad, who finished her first Husky race in 21:37. Jenna Sanders was 16th overall and freshman Anastasia Kosykh was 23rd.
Last season, Nelson's win foretold of an All-American season to come, as the Walla Walla native went on to take 20th at the NCAA Championships. The pace was a little slower overall this year, but Nelson showed the racing skills and confidence of a senior as he gradually moved up in the lead pack, taking the lead with about 2,000-meters left of the 8,000-meter race, and then opening up a gap of a few seconds over the last thousand meters to win in a time of 24:01.
Junior Meron Simon was third, just three seconds behind Nelson, but the Cougars took second and fourth through seventh before Izaic Yorks came across in eighth in 24:24. Freshman Fred Huxham, competing unattached, was 10th in 24:28, then redshirt freshman A.J. Yarnall was 11th and junior Tyler King was 12th to cap the Husky scoring. Freshman Drew Schreiber, unattached as well, placed 13th in 24:45, eight seconds behind King. Redshirt freshman Johnathan Stevens was 16th, junior Jacob Smith was 18th, and junior Tim Cummings took 23rd overall.
“(The WSU runners) were giving us a pretty good competition throughout the race, pushing the pace in the middle and the beginning,” Nelson said. “I was just focused on keeping my composure and staying relaxed and moving up through the ranks until the end when there started to be a little separation with a couple of their guys. I just felt like I needed to make a strong move between a mile and a K to go, and it was good, it was a good race.”
Head Coach Greg Metcalf looked at the day as just the starting point. “This was the first time we've competed, and racing is the only real evaluator what you're doing,” he said. “I was proud of our women, I thought they did a nice job today. Maddie was fantastic, I thought Kaylee and Anna ran great. I liked what the women did today. The men, the hardest thing that we do is keeping your eye on the prize. The goal is to be ready to run 10,000-meters in November. I think our team is pretty good, but we looked a little flat today. So we've got to go fix that, we've got a massive meet in two weeks and we need to be much more fired up then.”
In two weeks, Washington will be hosting one of the highest-caliber invitational fields of the season, as Jefferson Park Golf Course plays host to the inaugural Washington Invitational, on Oct. 4 at 11 a.m.
Players Mentioned
