Verona, Wisconsin, October 13—Oregon’s national 1500 champ Jessica Hull channeled her inner miler on the finishing straight to defeat frosh Katrina Robinson of Arkansas for the Pre-Nationals Cardinal race win while New Mexico’s Weini Kelati left her pursuers in the dust in the White race.
“I loved the straight coming in,” said Hull, a 21-year-old Aussie. “That’s the miler in me, because you can see the finish line, and think, ‘I can run a 300!’” The Duck senior, thus energized, kicked to the finish for the 6K win in 20:03.2, 6 seconds better than Robinson.
In the day’s second race, 21-year-old Eritrean Kelati pulled away at 4K and eased home in 19:33.3. The Lobo soph’s winning mark was 2 seconds better than her effort in taking runner-up honors two weeks previous at the Nuttycombe Invite and 12 better than teammate Ednah Kurgat, the reigning national champion.
Kelati’s third-ranked team also left its chasers well behind, placing 1-2-9-14-41 for a convincing enough win over No. 10 Michigan (120) and No. 5 Stanford (129). Charlotte Prouse (9), Adva Cohen (14) and Hannah Nuttall (41) accounted for the Lobos’ final three scorers. Notre Dame, ranked just No. 22, surprised in 4th with 172 points.
“You prepare for everything,” Kelati said, noting that she felt good when she dropped Kurgat. “There are a lot of great runners here and every race is different.” But one real constant for her is Kurgat both as a training partner and fellow racer: “I feel like it’s a blessing to have a teammate [to work together with in practice and run with in meets].” As for anticipating the Nationals 5 weeks later, she said, “A month is a long time away but I’ll be ready.”
By 2K, New Mexico had 79 points for the White race lead, one it would not relinquish. Kelati, running relaxed and easy, was content to share the early lead with Kurgat and Kansas’s Sharon Lokedi, but by 4K the race was down to the New Mexico pair and it was all over but the proverbial shouting. Louisville’s Dorcas Wasike (19:55.5) followed Kurgat across the line in 3rd while Elise Cranny (4th in 20:06.9) and Fiona O’Keeffe (5th in 20:09.6) paced Stanford.
No. 7 Arkansas claimed the Cardinal win in a mild upset of No. 4-ranked Oregon, 51–71, off four low sticks in Taylor Werner (6), Carina Viljoen (8) and Lauren Gregory (10). Sydney Brown (25) was the Razorbacks’ fifth runner. No. 11 Indiana (166) was 3rd.
Although the first race was delayed 30 minutes because of frost, Hull said the terrain was fine and said Oregon had prepared for any possibility of bad turf. “The course was good,” she said. “We did a workout Tuesday on ground that was similar to here to prepare for it.” She said that she kind of let the race come to her. “I think at any moment I didn’t plan a decisive move but just wanted to keep a good strong rhythm down the hill. I didn’t think that was the move. I was just trying to run in rhythm and all of a sudden I found that Katrina was coming back.”
Which meant it was a good time to channel that inner miler.
PRE-NATIONALS WOMEN’S RESULTS
Verona, Wisconsin, October 13 (6K)—
Cardinal Teams
1. Arkansas 51; 2. Oregon 71; 3. Indiana 166; 4. BYU 175; 5. NC State 180; 6. Portland 242; 7. Minnesota 260; 8. Syracuse 269; 9. Northern Arizona 293; 10. Colorado 325; 11. UCLA 350; 12. Mississippi 362; 13. Ohio State 389; 14. Florida State 401; 15. Northwestern 414; 16. San José State 442; 17. Miami/Ohio 458; 18. Duke 474; 19. Wichita State 495; 20. Nevada 510.
Cardinal Individuals
1. Jessica Hull’ (Or) 20:03.2; 2. ***Katrina Robinson (Ar) 20:09.4; 3. *Aubrey Roberts (NWn) 20:10.0; 4. *Erica Birk (BYU) 20:12.2; 5. *Bethany Hasz (Mn) 20:18.3; 6. *Taylor Werner (Ar) 20:18.8; 7. Lauren LaRocco (Port) 20:19.7; 8. *Carina Viljoen’ (Ar) 20:20.1; 9. *Elly Henes (NCSt) 20:23.7; 10. **Lauren Gregory (Ar) 20:25.6;
11. **Winny Koskei’ (Wich) 20:28.9; 12. Weronika Pyzik (Or) 20:29.4; 13. *Courtney Wayment (BYU) 20:29.9; 14. *Megan Hasz (Mn) 20:31.1; 15. Katherine Receveur (In) 20:33.8; 16. **Dominique Clairmonte (NCSt) 20:39.1; 17. Philippa Bowden (Or) 20:39.5; 18. Militsa Mircheva’ (FlSt) 20:39.8; 19. Carmela Cardama Baez (Or) 20:40.9; 20. Margaret Allen (In) 20:41.5;
21. Addi Zerrenner (Az) 20:41.7; 22. *Isabelle Brauer’ (Or) 20:43.4; 23. *Brianna Schwartz (Co) 20:44.3; 24. **Erika Adler (UCLA) 20:44.6; 25. Sydney Brown (Ar) 20:45.8; 26. **Christina Rice (UCLA) 20:46.0; 27. Taryn Rawlings (Port) 20:46.3; 28. **Joyce Kimeli’ (Aub) 20:46.7; 29. ***Laura Dickinson (Syr) 20:52.2; 30. *Aoibhe Richardson (Port) 20:52.7;
31. *Jennie Baragar-Petrash’ (Az) 20:54.0; 32. Nell Crosby (NCSt) 20:55.6; 33. **Rachel Bonner (Syr) 20:55.7; 34. Sarah Anderson (WnMi) 20:56.0; 35. *Jenny Sandoval (SJSt) 20:58.2; 36. ***Bailey Hertenstein (In) 20:58.7; 37. **Clio Ozanne-Jaques’ (Ms) 20:59.6; 38. *Rebekah Topham (Wich) 21:00.2; 39. ***Bryn Morley (NnAz) 21:00.4; 40. **Kai Bohannon (SJSt) 21:01.3;
41. Alesha Vovk (Miami/O) 21:02.4; 42. *Hiley Dobbs (Nv) 21:05.1; 43. *Lexa Barrott (In) 21:05.9; 44. **Anna Camp (BYU) 21:08.4; 45. Emily Stoodley (OhSt) 21:09.3; 46. *Madeleine Davison (Syr) 21:11.7; 47. **Michaela Reinhart (Duke) 21:11.9; 48. Mary Malone (Syr) 21:11.9; 49. *Amanda Gehrich (Or) 21:12.4; 50. ***Aubrey Frentheway (BYU) 21:12.7.
White Teams
1. New Mexico 67; 2. Michigan 120; 3. Stanford 129; 4. Notre Dame 172; 5. Washington 199; 6. Wisconsin 199; 7. Furman 220; 8. Southern Utah 237; 9. Georgia 279; 10. Air Force 298; 11. Yale 379; 12. Utah State 385; 13. Kansas 406; 14. Cal Poly 411; 15. Harvard 430; 16. Colorado State 435; 17. Eastern Michigan 475; 18. Wake Forest 494; 19. USF 499; 20. Arizona State 541.
White Individuals
1. **Weini Kelati’ (NM) 19:33.3; 2. *Ednah Kurgat’ (NM) 19:45.5; 3. *Dorcas Wasike’ (Louis) 19:55.5; 4. Elise Cranny (Stan) 20:06.9; 5. *Fiona O’Keeffe (Stan) 20:09.6; 6. Sharon Lokedi’ (Ks) 20:11.9; 7. *Savannah Carnahan (Furm) 20:14.1; 8. Avery Evenson (Mi) 20:15.3; 9. Charlotte Prouse’ (NM) 20:18.4; 10. *Katie Rainsberger (Wa) 20:20.9;
11. *Jessica Drop (Ga) 20:22.6; 12. Hannah Meier (Mi) 20:33.6; 13. ***Jackie Gaughan (NDm) 20:34.2; 14. **Adva Cohen’ (NM) 20:35.5; 15. Angie Nickerson (SnUt) 20:37.9; 16. Jaci Smith (AF) 20:40.9; 17. *Anna Rohrer (NDm) 20:43.9; 18. **Lisa Tertsch (Harv) 20:45.4; 19. Rachel DaDamio (NDm) 20:47.8; 20. Natalie Cizmas (EnMi) 20:48.0;
21. Sydney Meyers (EnMi) 20:48.5; 22. Emily Hamlin (Wa) 20:50.1; 23. Claire Borchers (Mi) 20:51.4; 24. *Maddy Kauffman (SnUt) 20:51.7; 25. **Jessica Lawson (Stan) 20:51.8; 26. *Samantha Halvorsen (WF) 20:52.6; 27. Andrea Masterson (Yale) 20:53.0; 28. *Gabrielle Jennings (Furm) 20:53.6; 29. **Logan Morris (Clem) 20:54.9; 30. Rachel King (SDSt) 20:55.9;
31. *Kaitlyn Neal (Wa) 20:56.8; 32. Shaelyn Sorensen (Wi) 20:57.6; 33. *Alicia Monson (Wi) 20:57.7; 34. *Amy Davis (Wi) 20:57.8; 35. **Alissa Niggemann (Wi) 20:57.9; 36. *Emma Grace Hurley (Furm) 21:00.6; 37. ***Camille Davre (Mi) 21:02.3; 38. **Madison Fruchey (SnUt) 21:03.6; 39. Alyssa Snyder (UtSt) 21:04.6; 40. ***Jessi Larson (Mi) 21:05.4;
41. *Hannah Nuttall (NM) 21:05.9; 42. Cierra Simmons (UtSt) 21:07.3; 43. **Maria Mettler (AF) 21:07.7; 44. Jessica Harris (NDm) 21:08.0; 45. Megan O’Neil (CMi) 21:09.3; 46. ***Rebecca Story (Stan) 21:09.4; 47. Grace Tavani (Ga) 21:09.9; 48. *Anna West (Mi) 21:11.4; 49. **Julia Heymach (Stan) 21:12.2; 50. *Katie Izzo (SLO) 21:13.3. □
