Track & Field 10/14/2012

Strong individual runs for XC

MOSCOW, Idaho – University of Idaho men's and women's cross country split up this week to compete at the NCAA Pre-Nationals and at the Inland Northwest Championships, and the day was highlighted by several impressive individual performances at both locations.

Vandal senior Barry Britt and junior Hannah Kiser finished eighth each in the men's and women's Black races at the NCAA Pre-National meet, respectively, while junior Alycia Butterworth finished 51st overall in the women's race.

In the Inland Northwest Championship at Lewiston, Idaho, junior Emily Paradis led the way for the Vandals on the women's 5k course with a seventh-place overall finish, while senior Jeff Osborn was the top men's finisher over 8k at 23rd overall.

The Pre-National race was run at Louisville, Ky., the same route on which the NCAA Championships will be run in November. Kiser ran a 21:29.2 over 6k to finish eighth overall out of 243 runners in the competition. Butterworth ran a 22:17.7 to take 51st overall. Britt's time of 24:28.3 over 8k was good for eighth out of 278 men's competitors.

Paradis ran an 18:14 at Lewiston and was followed by freshman Halie Raudenbush in 19th (18:44) and junior Holly Stanton in 20th (18:48). Redshirt freshman Abby Larson was the team's fourth scorer at 29th overall in 19:11, while freshman Alex Sciocchetti wrapped up the team scoring at 51st overall in 19:50.

As a team, the Vandal women finished fourth with a team score of 110.

On the men's side, Osborn ran a 25:55 in the 8k race and was followed by freshman Santos Vargas in 30th place with a time of 26:02. Sophomore Cayle Turpen (62nd, 27:16) was Idaho's third finisher, while redshirt freshman Kasey Hattrup was fourth and freshman Tyler Jazskowiak was fifth (81st, 28:33).

Promising freshman Will Austin-Cray was running well early on, but had to withdraw from the race after feeling tightness in his hamstring. In all, Idaho finished seventh at 196 team points.

This weekend concludes the “regular season” portion of the year for Vandal cross country. Now the teams will play for keeps, starting with the Western Athletic Conference Championships in two weeks at Ruston, La., hosted by Louisiana Tech.

The Vandal women will be looking to win their third-consecutive WAC crown and fifth of the last eight years, while the Idaho men's team, which has been a regular top-three finisher in the conference, will try to break through for their first title in the conference.

Print Friendly Version