VERONA, WISCONSIN, September 27 — After altitude training earlier in the month, Washington returned to sea level for its first foray into Big 10 country as one of the conference’s new members. It was a notable success as Maurica Powell’s fifth-ranked women scored 110 points for a 29-point margin on former Pac-12 rival Utah (139) in the Nuttycombe Invitational.
Villanova junior Sadie Sigfstead, a Canadian and avowed cold-weather aficionado, bided her time in the 70-plus (22 C) temperatures and let the race come to her. It turned out to be a perfect strategy and a huge confidence-builder as she surged past her early co-leader Rosina Machu of Gonzaga in the final kilometer for a convincing 19:55.7 win over the 6K Zimmer course.
Fast-closing Florence Caron of Penn State caught Machu for 2nd, 20:03 to 20:06, with Columbia’s Phoebe Anderson (20:11) and Providence’s Kimberly May (20:12) filling out the top 5. The top finishers were in the hunt throughout the race as a few others ebbed and flowed into and out of contention. At 2K, Machu, Sigfstead and Caron were 1-2-3 with the leader at 6:26, 3 ticks up on Sigfstead. At 4K, they were still 1-2 but with a 10-second edge on Caron.
Washington, meanwhile, was moving up methodically in the team battle. Virginia led with 147 points at 2K, with Georgetown, North Carolina, Utah and Washington knotted around 165. But with 2K left, Washington was running 5-16-19-39-41 for 120 points and had a 26-point lead over Utah.
“My coach [Gina Procaccio, now in her 22nd year as Nova head] knows me best and we have a great connection,” said Sigfstead. “She knows I’m an endurance runner and a hard pace from the start is probably going to serve me best. She just tells us to go run. We should be able to trust our race and instincts.
“At this point we do it long enough like you’ll know what to do. I just felt, when one of the girls took it [at] a hard pace, you go with them and see what happens. This is a great race to make decisions and [also] to make a great name for yourself.”
Rest assured, she’s doing that now. After 93rd- and 71st-place finishes in her two NCAA cross appearances and a 12th in the 10K in NCAA track, Sigfstead looks primed to be one of contenders come November.
Noting her confidence in making tactical decisions has come far…
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