SEATTLE, Wash. – It was a solid day for both squads, as Idaho cross country competed at the Washington Invitational on Saturday.

"Overall it was a great day," said Travis Floeck, assistant coach for distance with the track and field/cross country program.  "We saw some great performances, a number of personal-bests.  It just gets you excited for the rest of the season and what can happen the rest of the year.  We had good competition in the first two meets, they were solid meets, but there's just something about going to one of the better meets in the country.  I think it adds some pressure, racing some of the best teams in the country and being in a race of that caliber.  It was good experience for us."
 
The women placed fifth out of nine teams, beating out Washington State and Eastern Washington, among others.  Washington took the women's title, scoring 24 points.  The men also placed fifth, just behind local rival Washington State.  Oregon came out on top on the men's side with 26 points.

"On the men's side we put together a really solid race," Floeck said.  "That's probably the best representation that the top-five has had this year.  Then Grayson continues to lead the way.  He's racing like a veteran right now.  He was the top true freshman in the race, and against some of those other programs that's truly impressive."
 
Grayson Ollar was Idaho's top performer on the men's side yet again, completing the 8k race in 24:20.10 and taking 21^st.  Nathan Stark placed 31^st overall with a time of 24:39.60.
 
Drew Schultz and Tim Delcourt took 33^rd and 34^th, respectively.  Schultz finished in 24:42.60, while Delcourt completed the race in 24:43.70.  Rounding out the scorers was Dwain Stucker in 37^th with a time of 24:45.20.
 
"Grayson is probably running at a higher level than even I expected," said Floeck.  "But the rest of the guys on the team are just excited about it.  That's something that's special about this team.  They truly just want to be the best they can be collectively.  There's no sore feelings about a freshman walking through the door and being the top guy.  They're just more excited about how each one of them can contribute.  It has been a lot of fun to watch and I'm just really proud of the whole team.

"On the women's side we had some people run gigantic PR's.  Sierra came back into the lineup and she looked great.  Kara continues to have an amazing season and Andie really stepped up today.  She ran almost a full minute PR, which is just out of this world.  Halie knows there's a little bit more there.  She still ran solid, but she knows she can be closer with our top runners.  Then Krista coming out in uniform today was a big addition."

On the women's side, Sierra Speiker finished 23^rd overall with a time of 20:44.80.  Kara Story was close behind in 26^th at 20:49.00.
 
Andrea Condie earned 31^st, completing the 6k race in 21:02.60.  Halie Raudenbush finished 38^th at 21:26.10 and Krista Story took 43^rd at 21:33.30.

"I told them today, Kara and Krista, when I was recruiting them this is what I envisioned," Floeck said.  "It was pretty cool to see.  Kara is having this amazing season and is running really well.  Krista is getting stronger every race.  She had a mild setback in the summer so now she's just getting faster every race.  I would expect at some point she's going to be getting closer to Kara and that will be pretty cool to watch.  They're really talented, but they're also turning into really savvy racers.  It's fun to watch."
 
For complete results, check the links on the right.
 
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