Head Coach:

Greg Metcalf (13th Year)

 

Last Year:

5th Pac-12

9th West Regional

No NCAA 

 

Probable Top Five:

SR Aaron Nelson (28:44 10k; 8:49 3k Steeple; 20th NCAA XC '13)

JR Izaic Yorks (3:42 1500m; 38th Pac-12 XC '13; 3:59 1 Mile)

FR Colby Gilbert (3:45 1500m; US JR 5k Champ; 14:07 5k)

JR Jacob Smith (8:16 3k; 25th Pac-12 XC '13; 149th NCAA XC '12)

JR Meron Simon (8:16 3k; 3:45 1500m; 62nd West Regional XC '13)

 

Impact Freshman/Recruits:

Colby Gilbert - Skyview, WA (3:45 1500m; US JR 5k Champ; 14:07 5k)*

Sumner Goodwin - Lewis and Clark, WA (8:20 3k; 14:38 5k)*

A.J. Yarnall - Saugus, CA (8:19 3k indoor)*
Fred Huxham - Redwood, CA (4:10 Mile; 8:54 3200m)

Mahmoud Moussa - Arcadia, CA (4:13 1600m; 9:13 2 Mile)

Drew Schreiber - Eisenhower, WA (4:07 1600m)

*Redshirt Freshman

 

 Analysis:

Colby Gilbert redshirted last year, and it wasn’t until June that most people even knew he was a Husky. But what a summer he had. He won the USA Junior 5000m and went on to place 9th at the World Junior Championships in Eugene. The Vancouver, Washington native clocked some impressive times last year while running unattached, including 14:07 for 5k and 3:45 for 1500m. Gilbert is out of the redshirt bag now and combined with a very powerful Aaron Nelson should lead the Huskies to the big dance.

 

After Nelson’s 20th place at the NCAA last year, he threw down an impressive 10k at Stanford and showed it was a great decision with a 28:44 best. He will be Metcalf’s number one. Three 1500m specialists have the opportunity to step up and create a solid mid pack crew. Izaic Yorks and Nick Harris are identical 3:42 guys with Yorks getting the nod over the longer distance. Meron Simon clocked 3:45 in the spring and needs to transfer that effort to the grass race to be in the top five becauase knocking on that door is outstanding freshman, Fred Huxham.

Hailing from Redwood, California, Huxham was the CIF 3200m champion last June in a fine 8:54.24. An excellent cross country runner as well, Huxham was in the top 4 two years in a row in the tough CIF championships. Fellow freshman Mahmoud Moussa has the interesting distinction of being on two national high school cross country championship teams. He went to Arcadia, California’s great team as a junior and Gig Harbor in Washington as a senior.

 

Still another freshman, Drew Schreiber of Eisenhower, Washington, has an excellent 1600m of 4:07, but his strength seems to be in the 1600m and 800m. Not sure if he will help in cross country, but he certainly has the tools.

 

Aaron Nelson should improve on his fine 20th place and if the talent behind him performs like they should, Washington will be in good shape to get to the nationals and validate this ranking. Their very competitive conference and regional meets should toughen them up, and if Metcalf fine tunes them properly, this team will be one to contend with.

#13 Virginia Women
#14 BYU Men