Sept. 23, 2015
Nevada finished third at the nine-team Sundodger Invitational on Saturday, only five points out of second with a strong, team wide effort that revealed some new found depth. The Wolf Pack fell to the Pacific-12's Washington (14th ranked nationally) and Washington State, but took down six other teams including the PAC-1'2s Oregon State and Mountain West rival Fresno State.
Contested on the beautifully lush three lap 6000 meter course in Seattle's Lincoln Park, the athletes were on dirt paths, or grass, running through such heavily-wooded areas that one athlete said "it felt like we were running through a jungle." Heavy clouds early in the morning kept the temperature down. Helping the meet live up to its name, the sun began to peek through 10 minutes before race time.
An aggressive performance propelled senior
Emily Myers to eighth place in 21:07. Though not a personal record, this was the Cabot High School (AR) grad's best time in the first month of the season, eclipsing last September's 21:51 run at Santa Clara.
Caitlin Devitt-Payne displayed wisdom learned in her first three seasons, choosing to back off the ferocious early pace of the lead pack, holding steady in the middle of the race to finish with a great final kilometer; the senior from Loomis, California's Del Oro High School had the largest PR of the day for the Pack, cutting 34 seconds off her previous best to cross the finish line in 17th, notching 21:39 on the clock. Senior
Erika Root, running the most complete race of her career, slashed 23 seconds off her previous PR. The Reno High School grad clocked 21:53 to grab 19th. The next four positions for the Wolf Pack accounted for the improved team performance.
Marissa Suan,
Anna Preciado,
Meagan Wood and
McKenna Evans, in fourth through seventh positions for Nevada, all finished as the second finisher in their position when compared to all of the teams. Suan, a sophomore from Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas, grabbed 21st place, cutting 13 seconds off her best, running 22:01. Preciado finished 28th in 22:16. The senior from Sparks, Nevada's Spanish Springs High School completed Nevada's scoring as the fifth finisher for the Wolf Pack with a new PR, shaving 1 second off her previous best.
Meagan Wood and
McKenna Evans, the Wolf Packs sixth and seventh, helped Nevada's cause by finishing in front of the scoring fifth runner for six of the other teams, pushing up their team scores. Wood, a sophomore from Reno's Damonte Ranch High School clocked 22:35 to finish 38th. Evans, from Minnesota's storied Wayzata High School program, recorded the 11th best time for a freshman in Nevada's history in her first 6000, running 22:43 for 41st place. Junior
Sidney Root had the second largest PR of the day for Nevada, lopping 31 seconds off her best while crossing the finish line in 45th.
The Wolf Pack will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 3rd at the Sacramento Capital Cross Challenge hosted by Sacramento State on the Haggin Oaks Golf Course.
COURSE Hard packed dirt trails, grass on a course with long gradual inclines and declines. Relatively fast
CONDITIONS Good conditions-68F/20C, partly cloudy, very light breeze
TEAM 9 teams Washington 17, Washington State 88, NEVADA 93, Portland St 130 Oregon St 141, Seattle U 156, Fresno St 163, Tulane 171, Hawaii 195
INDIVIDUAL 88 finshers
Name/YR PLACE TIME NOTES
Emily Myers/Sr 8 21:07 Fastest time in September
Caitlin Devitt-Payne/Sr 17 21:39 34 sec PR, moves to #8 All Time
Erika Root/Sr 19 21:58 23 sec PR, moves to #13 All Time
Marissa Suan/So 21 22:01 13 sec PR, moves to tie for #14 All Time
Anna Preciado/Sr 28 22:16 1 sec PR
Meagan Wood/So 38 22:35
Mckenna Evans/Fr 41 22:43 #11 Freshman All Time, Ties #30 All Time
Sidney Root/Jr 55 22:49 31 sec PR, #34 All Time
Shannon Palladino/Fr 59 22:56 #14 Freshman All Time, ties for #36 All Time
Alaina Anderson/So 68 23:19
