Both Husky squads head to Terre Haute ranked in top 20; Eugene makes final pitch to IAAF...

NEW ORLEANS--The Washington Husky cross country teams enter Saturday's NCAA Division I cross country championships in Terre Haute, Indiana ranked in the top 20, according to the USTFCCCA final regular season national coaches' poll released Monday evening.

The men's squad goes into Terre Haute ranked #16 after their fifth place finish in last Friday's NCAA West Regional championship race in Palo Alto, where they finished behind Oregon, Portland, Stanford and UCLA.  They were ranked #11 in the coaches' poll before the regionals.

The Huskies will make their first team appearance at the national championship meet since the 2009 season, when they finished 18th.  

The USTFCCCA men's top five are Pac-12 champ Colorado, Syracuse, Oregon, Oklahoma State and Villanova.

Other Pac-12 teams ranked include #9 Stanford, and #12 UCLA.

The Washington women (above/photo by Paul Merca) head into Saturday's national title race ranked #19, dropping four spots from #15.  The Dawgs will make its eighth straight appearance at nationals, and its 16th in the last 18 seasons.

The national women's top five are Michigan State, Georgetown, Oregon, Arkansas, and Iowa State.

Other Pac-12 schools ranked include #8 Colorado, #10 Stanford, and #29 UCLA.


The NCAA Division I cross country championships will be webcast on NCAA.com Saturday beginning at 9 am, pacific.

BARCELONA, DOHA & EUGENE MAKE FINAL PITCHES TO IAAF TUESDAY

The IAAF Council will meet this week in Monte Carlo, and among the decisions it will make in its first session on Tuesday is the site of the 2019 IAAF world track & field championships.

Barcelona, Spain; Doha, Qatar; and Eugene, Oregon will make its final pitch to the IAAF council, beginning at noon, European Central time.  At the conclusion of the final presentations, the 27 members of the council will vote to award the bid, with 14 votes needed to secure.  If none of the three cities gets the required votes on the first ballot, the city with the least votes will be eliminated, at which time a second round of voting will commence.

The final decision on who will get the 2019 world championships will happen around 4 am, pacific time (1 pm, European central time).  The proceedings will be webcast live on the IAAF's YouTube channel.

The IAAF evaluation commission, headed by former world record holder and London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe (center/photo courtesy IAAF), visited all three candidate cities last month.

NOTE:  The USTFCCCA and the IAAF contributed to this report.

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