Published: November 25, 2008 12:08 am         

NCAA Cross Country Nationals: Washington women cruise; Kipyego challenged but becomes first 3-time women’s champ

TERRE HAUTE — Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech became the first three-time women’s NCAA cross country champion Monday at LaVern Gibson Championship Course, and the Washington Huskies celebrated the program’s first ever national title in cross country.

Kipyego shrugged off the high 30-degree temperatures and brisk 18-mile-per-hour winds, but the native of Kenya could not shrug off Florida State’s Susan Kuijken — at least not until the near the end.

Kipyego created a gap once early in the race but Kuijken closed. Kipyego left her behind again between the 4-kilometer and 5K marks. Kuijken was still close enough that a monster kick could have caught her down the front straight away. Kipyego enjoyed the competition, which helped her set a personal best and meet record as the senior finished in 19:28.1.

“Through the race, I kept thinking she might come back,” Kipyego said. “This was definitely [the hardest]. It was the hardest of the three. I’m glad I could get through it. I’d like to run with somebody. Today, Susan made me run hard, and made me PR so to me that’s an opportunity that doesn’t come every day so that was good.”

Kuijken, a junior and native of The Netherlands, was committed to running with Kipyego throughout the race.

“I couldn’t answer that [last] move That’s when she ran away from me,” Kuijken said. “That’s when she ran away from me. I was planning on running with Sally so I knew I wasn’t going to be comfortable and that I was going to be hurtin so it didn’t matter.”

Mentioned by some observers as one of the best women’s cross country teams in the sport’s history, the Washington Huskies did nothing to discredit those claims.

They had to fight off a strong effort by a second-ranked Oregon team that went out hard off the gun. The Ducks had a 20-point lead at the 2-kilometer mark of the 6K race. But the Huskies rounded into form, eventually winning with 79 points to the Ducks’ 131.

“It’s great for Seattle, great for the University of Washington,” coach Greg Metcalf said. “It’s great for our kids, great for our coaches. It’s just fun.”

Washington’s fabulous freshmen led the way as usual, with Christine Babcock taking seventh overall in 20 minutes, 1.7 seconds and Kendra Schaaf 12th in 20:17.3.

“We’ve talked all season about the goal being a national championship,” Babcock said. “As soon as I got to campus, that was the goal. We just have a great group of girls, and everyone was working for the same goal. We just built off of each other.”

The rest of Washington’s pack did its job. Sophomore Mel Lawrence was 25th (20:32.3), junior Katie Follett 26th (20:32.5) and senior Amanda Miller 34th (20:37).

Lauren Saylor was 41st and senior Anita Campbell 51st, showing off Washington’s unrivaled depth.

Overnight and early morning rain wetted the LaVern Gibson Championship Course, but the weather forecast was not intimidating for Washington.

“The weather, they joked about it over breakfast, but it was just like Magnuson Park, rain, cold, dark and windy,” Metcalf said. “It was a little cold, but everyone handled it well.”

The team thrived with its high expectations all season, Follett said.

“You can’t just expect a national championship to happen, you have to go out there and work hard and earn it,” Follett said. “Not everybody had a perfect race on our team, but I had absolute confidence in every girl on our team that even if you had an average day or a great day, everyone would be tough as nails and compete.”

The team captured the first cross country championship for the school in either gender and the fourth NCAA title in any sport.

Metcalf, a former UW runner, was thrilled to bring home the hardware.

All but Campbell and Miller will return, meaning repeat podium finishes will be the expectation in Seattle.

“Amanda and Anita are two hard pieces to replace, but I’m going to be honest and say we’re going to be pretty good next year,” Metcalf said.

Florida State was third, West Virginia fourth and Princeton fifth. Three-time IHSAA state champion Alex Banfich was 49th for the non-scholarship Princeton program.



Women’s 6K results

Team scores — 1. Washington 79, 2. Oregon 131, 3. Florida State 163, 4. West Virginia 198, 5. Princeton 220, 6. Villanova 248, 7. Texas Tech 272, 8. Stanford 299, 9. Georgetown 305, 10. Illinois 318, 11. Michigan State 336, 11. Minnesota 336, 13. Providence 340, 14. Arizona State 381, 15. Arkansas 404, 16. Michigan 416, 17. Florida 454, 18. New Mexico 475, 19. Baylor 484, 20. SMU 504, 21. Wisconsin 530, 22. Rice 535, 23. Northern Arizona 536, 24. Iowa 538, 25. Nebraska 539, 26. Virginia 605, 27. Boston College 651, 28. Syracuse 658, 29. Notre Dame 689, 30. Stony Brook 712, 31. Kentucky 824.

Top 40 (All-Americans)

2K Finish

1. Sally Kipyego (Texas Tech) 6:13 19:28.1

2. Susan Kuijken (Florida State) 6:13 19:34.9

3. Tasmin Fanning (Virginia Tech) 6:20 19:37.1

4. Brianna Felnagle (North Carolina) 6:25 19:53.3

5. Racheal Marchand (Iowa) 6:26 19:54.9

6. Angela Bizzarri (Illinois) 6:26 19:59.1

7. Christine Babcock (Washington) 6:25 20:01.7

8. Alex Kosinski (Oregon) 6:25 20:04.2

9. Nicole Bush (Michigan State) 6:25 20:07.6

10. Nicole Blood (Oregon) 6:25 20:08.6

11. Hollie Knight (Auburn) 6:24 20:12.7

12. Kendra Schaaf (Washington) 6:24 20:17.3

13. Janet Jesang (Western Kentucky) 6:24 20:18.3

14. Keri Bland (West Virginia) 6:26 20:19.9

15. Liz Costello (Princeton) 6:290 20:23.9

16. Veronica Pohl (Northern Arizona) 6:35 20:24.3

17. Marie-Louise Asselin (West Virginia) 6:20 20:26.1

18. Lillian Badaru (Texas Tech) 6:26 20:27.3

19. Gwen Jorgensen (Wisconsin) 6:29 20:27.7

20. Frances Koons (Villanova) 6:26 20:29.4

21. Andre Walkonen (Boston U.) 6:27 20:29.4

22. Katie Engel (Illinois) 6:29 20:31.1

23. Bridget Franek (Penn State) 6:31 20:31.5

24. Nicole Edwards (Michigan) 6:28 20:31.9

25. Marie Lawrence (Michigan State) 6:28 20:33

26. Katie Follett (Washington) 6:31 20:32.5

27. Lisa Senakiewich (Michigan State) 6:28 20:33.4

28. Wendi Robinson (Indiana) 6:33 20:34.1

29. Pilar McShine (Florida State) 20:34.5

30. Lauren Holesh (North Carolina) 6:29 20:35.4

31. Danette Doetzel (Providence) 6:26 20:36.3

32. Megan Duwell (Minnesota) 6:34 20:36.5

33. Elizabeth Maloy (Georgetown) 6:35 20:36.8

34. Amanda Miller (Washington) 6:38 20:37.0

35. Amanda Marino (Villanova) 6:44 20:37.3

36. Sarah Bowman (Tennessee) 6:25 20:39.5

37. Erin Bedell (Baylor) 6:28 20:39.6

38. Lesley Van Miert (Florida State) 6:28 20:41.7

39. Kari Hardt (Arizona State) 6:36 20:42.1

40. Mattie Bridgmon (Oregon) 6:34 20:43.6

Note: Check www.gosycamores.com for complete results.