MADISON, Wis. – Grant Fisher makes his cross country season debut as Stanford competes in its biggest race before the postseason, at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Friday.
Fisher, the reigning NCAA outdoor track and field 5,000-meter champion, leads the strongest Stanford men's lineup of the season. All-Americans Vanessa Fraser and Fiona O'Keeffe lead a Cardinal women's team that largely mirrors the squad that placed second at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Oregon two weeks ago.
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Meet information:
Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational
When: Friday
Where: Madison, Wis.
Site: Thomas Zimmer Championship Course.
Schedule: Women (6K), 10:20 a.m. PT
Men (8K), 11 a.m. PT
Meet Web site: Click here.
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, 67 degrees.
Follow the action:
Live results: Click here.
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Twitter: @stanfordxctf
Stanford in USTFCCCA rankings:
Men - No. 4
Women - No. 5* * *
It's #NuttyInvite week ... the gloves may come off ... #gostanford??
A post shared by StanfordXCTF (@stanfordxctf) on Oct 9, 2017 at 9:10pm PDT
Stanford competitors:
Men: Callum Bolger, Isaac Cortes, Tai Dinger, Grant Fisher, Steven Fahy, Blair Hurlock, Connor Lane, Will Lauer, Alex Ostberg, Alek Parsons, Michael Vernau, Sam Wharton.
Women: Maddy Berkson, Ella Donaghu, Vanessa Fraser, Julia Heymach, Jessica Lawson, Abbie McNulty, Fiona O'Keeffe, Jordan Oakes, Catherine Pagano.
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Ranked teams competing:
Men: No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 3 Syracuse, No. 4 Stanford, No. 6 Southern Utah, No. 10 Furman, No. 11 Colorado State, No. 13 Iona, No. 14 Iowa State, No. 15 Boise State, No. 16 Illinois, No. 17 Michigan State, No. 18 Virginia, No. 20 UCLA, No. 21 Indiana, No. 23 Air Force, No. 25 Michigan, No. 25 Portland, No. 28 Wisconsin, No. 29 Washington State, No. 30 Columbia.
Women: No. 3 New Mexico, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 San Francisco, No. 7 North Carolina State, No. 8 Providence, No. 11 Washington, No. 13 Boise State, No. 14 Indiana, No. 17 Wisconsin, No. 18 Iowa State, No. 20 Minnesota, No. 21 Furman, No. 22 Utah, No. 22 Georgetown, No. 27 Yale, No. 28 Virginia.
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Men
Race preview: This meet has grown in stature because it offers the best chance to beat top teams head-to-head. Twenty of the top 30 teams in the USTFCCCA rankings are scheduled to compete, including three of the top four – No. 1 and defending NCAA champ Northern Arizona, No. 3 Syracuse, and No. 4 Stanford. The individual race features Syracuse junior Justyn Knight, a Canadian who was ninth in the 5,000 at the World Championships in London this summer. At the 2016 NCAA cross country championships, Knight was second and Fisher fifth, and Wisconsin's Morgan McDonald, an Australian who also raced at worlds and competes Friday, was seventh.
Stanford breakdown: Fifth-year senior Sam Wharton, one of the team's two returning cross country All-Americans, makes his season debut, as does Will Lauer, a sophomore in eligibility. Stanford will race three true freshmen -- Callum Bolger, Connor Lane, and Michael Vernau – along with redshirt freshmen Isaac Cortes and Alek Parsons among its 12-member squad.
History at Wisco: Last year, Stanford was second to Northern Arizona in this meet and the results were duplicated at the NCAA Championships. Fisher led Stanford at Wisco with a fourth-place finish. This will be the fifth trip to this meet for the Stanford men, who first came in 2009. Stanford won as a team in 2012 and Maksim Korolev won the 2014 individual race.
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Women
Race preview: Sixteen of the nation's top 30 are in the field. Among the individuals, Boise State's Allie Ostrander (steeplechase) and San Francisco's Charlotte Taylor (10,000) are reigning NCAA outdoor track champs. This will be a great opportunity for Stanford's Fraser, the seventh-place finisher in the 2017 U.S. Championships 5,000, to see where she fits on the national stage.
Stanford breakdown: Stanford has yet to run at full strength and won't do so here, but the race will further test a young team. Five of Stanford's nine runners are underclassmen in eligibility, with sophomore All-America Fiona O'Keeffe the best among them. Of this lineup, Abbie McNulty is the only Stanford runner who has raced here, competing on the 2014 team that placed seventh.
History at Wisco: This is Stanford's fourth appearance and first since 2014. The Cardinal first competed in 2011. Its best performances have been second as a team and fifth as an individual (Kathy Kroeger), both in 2012.