Washington women's cross-country team wins NCAA title

Washington's women's cross country team dominated every time it ran this fall, winning each race easily. Today, the Huskies did it again, winning the NCAA championship in Terre Haute, Ind.

The NCAA title was the first for a UW cross-country team. The Huskies have reached the national meet 12 of the past 15 years, but last year's eighth-place finish had been their highest. Until today.

The Huskies finished with 79 points. Oregon was second with 131, Florida State third at 163.

"They really closed well," UW coach Greg Metcalf said of his runners' efforts on a chilly day. "They were awesome, they just did a great job."

Sally Kipyego, a senior at Texas Tech, was the individual winner, claiming the title for an NCAA-record third time. Kipyego covered the 6,000-meter women's course in 19 minutes, 28.1 seconds on a chilly day.

The Huskies' top finishers were freshmen Christine Babcock, who was seventh in 20:01.7, and Kendra Schaaf, 12th in 20:17.3.

The other UW finishers: sophomore Mel Lawrence (25th, 20:32.3); junior Katie Follett (26th, 20:32.5); senior Amanda Miller (34th, 20:37); sophomore Lauren Saylor (41st, 20:43.7) and senior Anita Campbell (51st, 20:50.4).

Metcalf said the Huskies' race plan didn't actually go as planned, that they were farther back than he had hoped at the halfway point of the race.

"But, they did what they've done all year long. After the 3K, they moved and ran better after that," Metcalf said. "Our front team of Christine Babcock and Kendra Schaaf were in the lead pack right where they needed to be. They did a great job. And Mel and Katie closed well and lowered our team score dramatically after halfway. Things didn't go 100 percent as planned, but I won't get greedy. It was good to win."

The top five UW runners earned All-America honors by finishing in the top 40, and Saylor just missed by one-tenth of a second. Saylor was the last finisher at the 2007 NCAA race as her body shut down near the finish line. But she ran her best race of the season today.

Each of the 31 teams was allowed to use seven runners, with the top five counting in team scoring. Stanford was eighth and Arizona State 14th.

Metcalf and the UW runners received congratulatory phone calls from school president Mark Emmert.

"To come here as the favorite and get the win, it says a lot about where we come in the last four years, and the direction from here," Metcalf said. "We only graduate two seniors. We should be better next year, so all is good in Seattle right now."

Oregon won the 10,000-meter men's race, led by individual winner Galen Rupp. The Ducks finished with 93 points. Iona was second (147) and Stanford third (227). The Washington men finished 18th. California finished 22nd and UCLA was 26th.

Rupp edged Sam Chelanga of Liberty, 29:03.2 to 29:08. The two ran ahead of the pack for most of the race. The third-place finisher was more than 17 seconds behind Chelanga. David Kinsella, a University of Portland senior from Inglemoor High School, was fourth (29:26.5).

Junior Jake Schmitt was the first Huskies finisher, placing 58th in 30:32.6. The other UW finishers: junior Kelly Spady (86th, 30:47.2); sophomore Jordan Swarthout (108th, 30:58); senior Jon Harding (142nd, 31:11.7); junior Colton Tully-Doyle (154th, 31:19); junior Chris Ahl (234th, 32:27.3) and junior Alec Bromka (236th, 32:31.6).