The UW women’s cross-country team will embark on the last 6k leg of a yearlong journey to repeat as national champions today at 10 a.m. in Terre Haute, Ind. The most likely competition for head coach Greg Metcalf comes from the Villanova Wildcats. Villanova heads into the NCAA championship meet undefeated, ranked second in the nation, and vastly improved from its sixth-place finish at last year’s championship run.

Kendra Schaaf, a sophomore from Saskatchewan, will be the expected first runner for Washington and has a shot at an individual victory as well. She was second by less than two seconds at the Pre-National meet.

Villanova’s likely number-one is Sheila Reid, a junior who is also from Canada. Reid won her regional meet, and Metcalf’s goal for Schaaf is to beat Villanova’s lead runner.

The second, third and fourth spots on the UW team are fairly fluid. Christine Babcock was the first Husky finisher at this meet last year, with a seventh-place result. Mel Lawrence will likely finish nearby, and Katie Follett will round out the Husky top-four as the only senior in UW’s varsity seven. Follett was 20th at nationals in 2008 but has the sprint speed to place in the top five if she finds herself in the lead pack toward the end of the race.

The Wildcats’ second, third and fourth runners will be Amanda Marino, who finished second at the Mid-Atlantic Regional meet and 27th at the national meet last year; Bogdana Mimic, who was fifth at her regional meet; and Ali Smith, who ran well at Regionals to garner a fifth-place finish.

Metcalf hopes to see Lawrence, Follett and Babcock finish together.

“The goal is for those three girls to go and race Villanova’s one, two and three runners,” Metcalf said.

With Schaaf at the front, getting the top four Huskies in front of Villanova’s top three would almost assure the Huskies a national championship.

“There’ll come a point in the race based on gaps where there’ll be a couple of Oregon, Villanova and Husky girls,” Metcalf said. “They’ll lock horns at one point.”

The Huskies’ last scoring runner figures to be Kailey Campbell. She ran fourth overall at the West Regional meet and has the potential to be an All-American if her race plan is fulfilled.

“She’ll pay attention to where the top-four girls are and keep them close,” Metcalf said. “There’s a long straightaway for the finish. The goal is to get her there with some kick.”

Campbell will be pitted against Kaitlyn Tallman of Villanova. Tallman was 183rd at nationals last year, which is more than double the points that the Husky team scored at that meet. If there’s one thing that separates UW from Villanova, it’s the strength of their fifth and last scoring runner, and the depth in the sixth and seventh.

Washington will be running some combination of Kayla Evans, Allison Linnell, Lindsay Flanagan and Lauren Saylor in those last two spots. Saylor was one place away from All-American status at the championship meet last year, finishing in 41st place and had been running some blistering workouts recently, but illnesses have sidelined her. Metcalf has said she’s unlikely to run today.

“Lauren’s not healthy right this second, but I trust her,” Metcalf said. “If she wakes up and says, ‘I feel great,’ we’re going to run her.”

The most important statistic for the Huskies will be their spread. The target, Metcalf said, is a spread of 40 seconds.

“If we do that and have our top runner in the top five, we’ll win,” Metcalf said. “It’s about racing singlets and shirts with different colors than ours, and our team’s done a great job of finishing races last year and this year.”

On the men’s side, the team hopes to finish in the top 10. Jake Schmitt, Kelly Spady and Colton Tully-Doyle will be leading the UW squad, running in a pack whose goal is to finish within the top 40. Metcalf believes that the Huskies will need to score no more than 300 points to place in the top 10, and in order to do this, the Huskies fourth and fifth runners will have to place between 70th and 100th. Jordan Swarthout is looking to improve on a disappointing West Regional meet and return to the form he found last year while running third on the UW team at Nationals. Joey Bywater and Cameron Quackenbush will be entering the meet with confidence and excitement after their solid performances at Regionals.

If these six men do their jobs, the UW team will achieve its goals. In order to launch into the top seven, the Huskies will need Max O’Donoghue-McDonald. He was held out of competition at West Regionals but has the potential to run with the Husky top three. Metcalf said, “Max is the wildcard,” and his volatile enthusiasm earns him that title.

Reach reporter Zachary Gussin at sportsd@dailyuw.com.