In case you haven’t heard, the UW women’s cross-country team is good. Kendra Schaaf proclaimed it from the hilltops during this past weekend, leading the women to a victory in their race at the pre-national meet in Terre Haute, Ind., with her second-place, 20:29 individual effort. The Huskies put three women in the top five, en route to a 30-point victory over a field that included three top-10 ranked teams. After this weekend, there’s no excuse for ignorance. The nation has been warned.

Even more incredible, juniors Mel Lawrence and Lauren Saylor didn’t run. Lawrence was fifth at this meet last year, and Saylor was one-tenth of a second away from All-American honors last year at the national championship. Lawrence and Saylor have been in the top five at both of the previous meets this year and were integral parts of the Huskies’ title run last year.

Stepping in for the absent all-stars were senior Kailey Campbell and sophomore Allison Linnell. Campbell, a local runner out of Seattle’s Ballard High School, put forth a solid effort, coming in 15th in the race with a time of 21:03, 14 seconds and 36 places better than her result at this meet last year. Linnell, who has been enjoying a breakout season, was 33rd overall with a time of 21:23.

Katie Follett continued her string of consistent runs, placing fourth with a time of 20:37. One place, and one second behind, was sophomore Christine Babcock. Rounding out the Huskies varsity seven were true freshman Lindsay Flanagan (69th, 21:47) and junior Kenna Patrick (99th, 22:05).

On the men’s side, Jake Schmitt found himself in familiar territory. He’s enjoyed success in Terre Haute, detailed by his All-American race at nationals last year. Schmitt led the Huskies with a 22nd-place, 24:16 run on Saturday, and Colton Tully-Doyle followed three seconds later in 25th place. Kelly Spady, who was the top runner at the previous two races of the season, was third for the Huskies in 32nd place (24:27). Joey Bywater was fourth on the squad with a respectable 46th-place finish in his first trip to Terre Haute, and Cameron Quackenbush finished out the scoring five with a 24:45 run, good for 58th place. Max O’Donoghue-McDonald was sixth, in 75th place, and Rob Webster was 86th overall with a 25:02 run on his first time traveling with the team.

The UW men managed to place fifth in their heat, beating four ranked teams and only losing to four top-10 ranked powerhouses. More importantly, a number of the younger members of the travel squad, notably Bywater and Webster, gained experience at the pivotal Terre Haute course.

The day before, a number of Huskies traveled to the Mike Hodges Invitational at Portland, Ore., hoping to gain a ticket to Terre Haute and the national championship meet. Sophomore Kayla Evans had a break-through run, finishing second overall in a time of 17:56. Junior Mo Huber was seven seconds and two positions behind Evans, running a solid 20:03. Three true freshmen powered into the top ten, with Breanna Huschka, Grace Green and Alison Ponce running 8-9-10.

The men showed solid performances as well, led by junior Jordan Swarthout’s fourth-place 20:09 run. Sophomore David McCarry was fifth, three seconds behind Swarthout, and true freshman James Cameron was ninth with a time of 20:23. All three of these men will be striving for a chance to run at Terre Haute Nov. 23 at the NCAA championship meet.

Swarthout has the most experience of the three and was the third Husky to cross the line at Nationals last year. He seems to be really gaining fitness after a frigid summer of preseason training while studying abroad in Kaliningrad, Russia. McCarry has been coming on strong as of late, showing that he has the ability to be a reliable varsity runner if called upon. Cameron has, arguably, the most upside, as shown by his performance at the Sundodger Invitational earlier this fall. A true freshman, it remains to be seen just how fast the Lake Forest, Calif., native can go this year. Keep an eye on these three runners as the season progresses. In the event of injury or illness, one of them will likely be called upon to join the varsity seven.

Reach reporter Zachary Gussin at sports@dailyuw.com.