Sept. 8, 2015
Surging into the lead from the gun, a pack of five Nevada runners broke open the collegiate women's 4000 meter cross country race at the Nature's Bakery Nevada Twilight Classic in the first 1000. Winning for the second year in a row, the Nevada Wolf Pack dominated the Twilight Classic, placing six in the top eight finishers. The team scores reflected the individual action with Nevada grabbing a 40 point advantage over second place UNLV, while also easily downing UCLA and UC-Riverside.
The Shadow Mountain course, rutted and gouged by some mid-summer heavy rains, did not yield many fast times, but the racing was intense from the start, with Nevada employing a two pack strategy in an attempt to break open the race. Emily Myers, Caitlin Devitt-Payne, Anna Preciado, Erika Root, and Marissa Suan forced the early pace, dropping all but two UC-Riverside athletes. This lead pack of seven surged to a substantial early lead of 20 meters over the field by the kilometer. It would stay that way with the key racing for top spots happening between these seven.
Myers, a multiple school record holder for Nevada, ran away with the first cross country victory of her career, churning across the rugged course, but the second spot turned into a ferocious battle between Devitt-Payne and Faith Makau, UC-Riverside's top athlete. Makau opened up a five meter lead on Devitt-Payne going into the third lap of the devilishly tough Shadow Mountain loop. Devitt-Payne reduced the margin at times, but Makau repeatedly surged away. When the two made the final turn with 125 meters to go, Makau held her five meter edge. On the long straight away, Devitt-Payne began to chip away at Makaus lead, and with 50 to go, Devitt-Payne came alongside Makau. Makau made a final attempt to hold off Devitt-Payne, but Devitt-Payne demonstrated her strength and speed, sprinting into second at the finish line.
Suan, Root, and Preciado finished almost in tandem in fifth through seventh, only one second separating the three. Meagan Wood led Nevada's second pack which sat back early, running an even pace, with the goal of running down competitors later in the race. Wood managed to work her way through the field beating all of UCLAs and UNLVs athletes with a fierce second half of the race. She finished eighth, making it six Nevada athletes in the top eight finishers. Following Wood's lead, and moving up nicely through the field, were Sidney Root and McKenna Evans, who took 12th and 13th in the 37-woman field.
The Wolf Pack managed to have its fastest time average on the Shadow Mountain course of 15:01 with the top five finishing within 40 seconds of each other, in spite of relatively slow personal times due to the rough course and a very breezy evening.
The Wolf Pack competes next on Saturday, Sept. 19th at Washington's Sundodger Invitational. Expected to be back in the lineup is sophomore Alaina Anderson. who was consistently in Nevada's top five last year as a freshman.
Learn more about the team by following @WolfPackTrack or @KirkElias on Twitter.
COURSE
Mainly dirt trails with grass for the start and finish. Includes a rutted, rugged 300 meter hill on each of the 3 laps.
CONDITIONS
Surprisingly cool with a strong breeze.
TEAM
NEVADA 21, UNLV 61, UC-Riverside 66, UCLA 89, Sierra Nevada College-Incomplete team
INDIVIDUAL 37 Finishers
Name/Year Place Time Notes
Emily Myers/Sr 1 14:35 1st collegiate CC victory
Caitlin Devitt-Payne/Sr 2 14:49 4 sec course PR, highest collegiate finish
Marissa Suan/So 5 15:14 22 sec course PR
Erika Root/Sr 6 15:15 10 sec course PR
Anna Preciado/Sr 7 15:15 18 sec course PR
Meagan Wood/So 8 15:22 Ties course PR
Sidney Root/Jr 12 15:29 33 sec course PR
Mckenna Evans/Fr 13 15:31 1st collegiate race-Redshirted last year
Shannon Palladino/Fr 14 15:33 Competed Unattached
Anne Underwood/Sr 20 16:12
Reighan Fisher/So 23 16:28 1st collegiate race
Helen Mino-Faukner/Fr 26 16:40
Jerriann Wells/Fr 28 16:44 1st collegiate race-Redshirted last year
Bailey Gosse/Fr 31 16:49 Competed Unattached
