Cross Country Returns to Madison for Wisconsin Pre-Nationals

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 11, 2018) – Northern Arizona University's men's and women's cross country teams will be heading to Madison, Wisc., on October 13^th for the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. The Lumberjacks will be returning after impressive performances from both squads at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational just a few weeks earlier on Sept. 28^th.
 
The 2018 Wisconsin Pre-Nationals serves as a pre-cursor for the national championships. This year's Pre-Nationals will consist of two evenly-seeded races per gender, the "Cardinal" and "White" races. In addition, teams not selected to compete in the seeded races will be placed in the "Grey" race. A maximum of 35 teams will be in each of the seeded races for a total of 70 teams.
 
Each team that is selected to compete in a seeded race can only run seven athletes. Teams can run an additional five athletes in the "Grey" race. Teams that are not selected to compete in the "Cardinal" or "White' race can run up to twelve athletes in the "Grey" race. Seeding of the 2018 Wisconsin Pre-Nationals will be done by an impartial seeding committee. 
 
"We designed our schedule in a way that purposefully allowed us to make two trips to this course prior to NCAA Nationals," said Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Michael Smith. "It allows us to understand what the best way to race it is and gives us a variety of competitive situations to work on there. We are entering part two of that process and I believe our first phase being Nuttycombe was extremely successful on both sides."
 
The men's cross country team crushed the competition at Nuttycombe in a field that featured 19 of the top 30 ranked teams at the time. In the men's championship "A" race NAU would score just 46 points compared to the next closest competitor which was host Wisconsin with 135 points. In that race the men had seven runners represent the school and four of them placed in the top eight.
 
The Lumberjacks that are slated to be running in the Men's 8K Cardinal Race will be Matt Baxter, Geordie Beamish, Tyler Day, Blaise Ferro, Luis Grijalva, Peter Lomong and Ryan Raff.
 
"The men are right where we want them right now," added Smith. "The mood is one of focus but the intensity is low. We're more focused on the consistency of training than any element of competition. We came off our last meet in a great position and added a really solid two weeks of training in the mountains. That being said we look forward to getting our guys in that competitive environment again."
 
What may have been most surprising about the men's performance at Nuttycombe is that senior All-American Matt Baxter sat out to allow some of the younger runners to gain experience on the national circuit. Baxter was a major component in the teams two national championship runs in 2016 and 2017 and has been described as a "cornerstone" of the program by his coaches and teammates. With his return to the lineup the Lumberjacks could see similar results to that of Nuttycombe at Pre-Nationals.
 
"I have potentially four more races to run for NAU," said Baxter. "I want to enjoy every single moment of it. This is going to be a great opportunity to refine our ability to handle race day. While some reluctantly crawl out of the trenches, you will once again see NAU leading the charge."
 
Baxter came in second at George Kyte during the 4.5 mile men's race. His time of 23:05.3 was only six seconds behind top finisher Peter Lomong who ended with a time of 22:59.3.
 
"Matt is in a place with his training where we are ready to open him up," said Smith. "Based on what we have seen in practice we are excited to get him lined up to race in an NAU uniform. This is his last season and he has developed into such a great athlete and strong leader."
 
"Nuttycombe showed the depth in leadership that we have on this team," added Baxter. "No matter who lines up in that NAU uniform they will give their best to represent this program, community and school in a positive way. We try to cultivate that in people the moment they join the team."
 
On the women's side the youthful crew would end up taking 19^th place in a field of 33 teams. The Jacks raced six runners in the women's championship "A" event, five of whom were sophomores. The experience the young team gained from racing against such a high level of national competition will influence races moving forward in the young women's collegiate careers.
 
NAU will have Hannah Behunin, Jesselyn Bries, Pipi Eitel, Shannon Molvin, Bryn Morley and Delaney Rasmussen represent women's team in the Women's 6K Cardinal Race.
 
Behunin, the redshirt freshman out of Mountain View, Wyo., has finished first individually for the Lumberjacks at both the George Kyte Classic and Nuttycombe Invitational. At Nuttycombe she posted a time of 21:08.4 in the 6K race.
 
Sophomore Jessa Hanson followed her up at Nuttycombe with a time of 21:17.1. The youth of the women's team during these formative first couple of years has motivated them to step up and work together to run as a team in meets like Pre-Nationals.
 
"Our motivation comes from every single person on this team, male or female," said Hanson. "When we run to represent NAU we are not just running for the school. We are representing our teammates, coaches, the culture that has been built here and all of the hard work that has been put in to get us to where we are today as a program."  
 
Freshman Bryn Morley will be competing for the first time since the George Kyte Classic on Sept. 1^st. Despite running unattached in that race she finished in third place overall with a time of 15:57.1 in the women's 2.6 mile race. Her return could come into play in a big way, much like Baxter's, during Pre-Nationals.
 
"I think the main thing that we can take from training the last two weeks is knowing how capable we are of going out there and running a strong race," said Morley. "We've been training hard as a team and our culture is building every day. When we're out there on the line it is going to be exciting to see what we can do at Pre-Nationals."
 
"The women's squad came out of Nuttycombe in a good place and are healthy and have gained some valuable confidence," said Smith. "We have had some great training since then. We want to build on that experience. This is an equally crowded meet, the depth however is potentially not as high because of the split races. We will position our athletes towards the front of their races and look to compete with the field."
 
NAU's men will be entering Pre-Nationals ranked number one overall in the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Coaches' Poll for well over two years now having been in the spot for an almost unheard of 18 weeks.
 
Some notable teams competing in the Men's 8K Cardinal Race will include three other top ten teams in host Wisconsin (#3), Stanford (#5) and Colorado State (#9). Other top 30 opponents will consist of Colorado (#11), Oregon (#13), Michigan (#20), Ole Miss (#22) and North Carolina State (#26). Big Sky Conference opponent Southern Utah (#15) is also slated to make an appearance.
 
The women currently sit at the number nine spot in the USTFCCCA Mountain Region Coaches' Poll.
 
Top ten teams that will be performing in the Women's 6K Cardinal Race will include Colorado (#1), Oregon (#4), Arkansas (#7) and BYU (#9). Other top 30 teams will include Indiana (#11), North Carolina State (#13), Ole Miss (#18), Minnesota (#21), Portland (#23) and Florida State (#25). Big Sky Conference rival Montana State will also be attending and racing in the Cardinal Race.
 
Participating Teams

Air Force (#10) Arizona Arizona State Arkansas State Baylor Belmont Boise State Boston University Butler BYU (#2) Cal Cal Poly Campbell Central Arkansas Central Michigan Charlotte Clemson Colorado (#11) Colorado State (#9) Dayton Duke Florida State Furman Georgia Gonzaga Harvard Hofstra Idaho State Illinois Illinois State Indiana (#21) Indiana State Iowa Iowa State Kansas Lamar Lehigh Liberty Louisville Miami (Ohio) Michigan (#20) Minnesota Montana State Nebraska New Mexico North Carolina State (#26) Northern Arizona (#1) Notre Dame Ohio State Ole Miss (#22) Oregon (#13) Portland (#4) Purdue (#9) Richmond Sacramento State San Francisco San Jose State South Dakota State Southern Utah (#15) Southeast Missouri State Stanford (#5) Stony Brook Syracuse (#8) Temple Tennessee Martin Tulane UCLA (#25) UMass Lowell Utah State Utah Valley UTEP Wake Forest Washington (#12) Washington State (#17) Weber State Wichita State William and Mary Wisconsin (#3) Wyoming Yale Youngstown State

Air Force Arizona Arizona State Arkansas Arkansas State Auburn Baylor Boise State Boston University Butler BYU (#9) Cal Cal Poly Campbell Central Michigan Clemson Charlotte Colorado (#1) Colorado State Dayton Duke Eastern Michigan Florida State (#25) Furman (#12) Georgia (#28) Harvard Idaho State Illinois State Indiana (#11) Indiana State Iowa Iowa State Kansas Lamar Lehigh Liberty Louisville Miami (Ohio) Michigan (#10) Minnesota (#21) Montana State Nebraska Nevada New Mexico (#3) North Carolina State (#13) Northern Arizona Northwestern Notre Dame (#22) Ohio State Ole Miss (#18) Oregon (#4) Oregon State Portland (#23) Portland State Purdue Richmond Sacramento State San Diego State San Francisco San Jose State SMU South Dakota State Southern Utah Southeast Missouri State Stanford (#5) Syracuse Temple Tennessee Martin Tulane UCLA USC Utah Utah State (#20) Utah Valley UTEP Wake Forest Washington (#16) Washington State Weber State Western Michigan Wichita State William and Mary Wisconsin (#8) Wyoming Yale (#24)