Both teams finished in impressive fashion as the Vandal cross country men and women each took third at the Sundodger Invitational hosted in Seattle Saturday.
Ricky Scuderi | Argonaut
Holly Browning (Stanton), left, Marquita Palmer, Abby Larson, Ailene MacPherson, Emily Paradis, and Stephanie Rexus practice at the Shattuck arboretum on Thursday. The cross country team competed at the Sundodger Invita- tional this past weekend.
“At this point last year, we were a little more race-ready, but we’ve been doing more volume in training compared to last year,” Idaho coach Wayne Phipps said. “I was impressed with (Kiser) running as fast as she did, considering how tired she was coming in. It was a very controlled, solid run for her.”
Fellow junior Alycia Butterworth also had a top-10 finish for the Vandals, crossing the finish line in 8th place at 21:14.35. With Idaho’s other veteran runners — juniors Holly Stanton and Emily Paradis — not feeling 100 percent, Idaho’s younger runners picked up the pace. Freshman Halie Raudenbush was third for the Vandals and 24th overall followed by fellow freshman Abby Larson (27th) and Marquita Palmer (28th) to round out the top five for Idaho.
The Vandal women finished third with 76 points behind former WAC foe Fresno State (56) and Washington (45).
On the men’s side, senior Barry Britt’s 8-kilometer time of 24:05.77 was an Idaho record on the course and gave him a second-place collegiate finish.
“It’s been a while since Barry raced for Idaho, since he redshirted outdoors,” Phipps said. “To get the first one under his belt is great, and to do it at that level just shows how hard Barry has been working this summer.”
Freshman Santos Vargas was the second Vandal to cross the finish line. He placed 17th overall with his time of 24:53.39.
“It’s not surprising – every week (Vargas) been with us, he’s gotten better,” Phipps. “The way he’s running right now and the way he’s adapted to the training, I think he’s going to have a pretty special freshman year.”
Vargas wasn’t the only freshman to impress for the Vandals over the weekend. Will Austin-Cray of Sydney, Australia, finished third for the Vandals in his season debut and finished 29th overall in 25:28.83.
Senior Jeff Osborn and sophomore Colton Hastings finished fourth and fifth to round out the scoring for the Vandal men.
Phipps was impressed with the young runners but expects improvement throughout the season.
“There were a couple young guys who were a little too conservative early on, and then a couple who were too aggressive, but that’s why we run these early races,” Phipps said. “Overall, it’s a great start to our season.”
The Vandals will train for the next two weeks before travelling to Oregon for the prestigious Dellinger Invitational Saturday, Sept. 29. The meet will feature many top teams from around the nation.
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]