Huskies Rack Up Eight Ranked Wins At Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The eighth-ranked Husky women's cross country team impressed in its season debut, early this morning on the first day of October. Washington paid a visit to the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, and came away with a fourth-place finish out of a field that featured a dozen squads ranked in the Top-30 nationally.
 
The Huskies' fourth-place finish put them ahead of eight nationally ranked teams, beating out the likes of No. 7 Minnesota, No. 15 Ole Miss, No. 18 Florida State, and No. 19 Notre Dame. Having just come out of an intense training block, the Huskies still turned in a great collective effort to get the important early season result.
 
No. 1-ranked North Carolina State got the win with 38 points and third-ranked New Mexico took second with 94. No. 6 Alabama was third with 147, followed by the No. 8 Huskies with 189 points and No. 7 Minnesota with 192.
 
The women worked together well throughout the 5,000-meters, and ended up with just a 15-second spread from one to five at the finish. All-American Allie Schadler came through in 27th-place in 16:49 to lead the Huskies. Just two seconds back was Madison Heisterman in 33rd-place, and then Naomi Smith was another two seconds behind her in 35th.
 
Anna Gibson was the No. 4 Husky in 43rd-place in 16:57, and Haley Herberg capped the scoring in 51st-place in 17:04 today. Freshman Julia David-Smith was the sixth Husky, in 86th overall in 17:21, then Taylor Chiotti was 102nd and Camila David-Smith finished 116th in a field of 192 finishers.
 
Washington also had four more women competing in the Open 5,000-meters. Senior transfer Sophie Cantine earned an 11th-place finish out of the 164 finishers in that field in a time of 17:33, and right behind was Andrea Markezich in 13th-place in 17:35. Another five spots back was Sophie O'Sullivan in 17:52 for 18th-place. The Husky 800-meter indoor record-holder, Carley Thomas, ran above and beyond her comfort zone today, finishing 68th in the open race in 18:56.
 
The UW men's team will race on Saturday a bit closer to home, down in Salem, Ore. at the Charles Bowles Invitational, which begins at 9:30 a.m. The next race for the women will come at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Friday, Oct. 15.