While Diamond League meets resume in Europe, all nine Washington schools set to get cross country season started...

With the Olympics squarely in the rear view mirror, the so-called second half of the European season gets underway with the IAAF Diamond League meets in Lausanne, Switzerland on Thursday, and in Paris on Saturday.

While the Diamond League meets are happening, athletes from nearly all of Washington’s nine Division I and II schools begin reporting in the next few days for the start of the cross country season, including Washington’s All-American Colby Gilbert (left/photo by Paul Merca).

All five of Washington’s Division I schools—Washington, Washington State, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, and SeattleU are in action next week, while Saint Martin’s opens their season one week ahead of its Division II counterparts.

As a service, paulmerca.blogspot.com is publishing a composite cross country schedule of all of the state’s Division I and II teams.

You can access the .pdf file below:

  Composite D1_D2 XC Schedule by paulmerca70601 on Scribd

Among the key meets in the state include: the Central Washington Invitational in Centralia on September 10th; the Sundodger Invitational at Seattle’s Lincoln Park on the 17th; and the Saint Martin’s Invitational in Lacey on the 30th.

October’s key meets include the Washington Invitational on the 1st; the Western Washington Classic the following week; the GNAC Championships on the 22nd in Bellingham; and the WAC championship meet on the 29th in Seattle.

For Division I, the NCAA regionals will be contested in Sacramento on November 11th, with the nationals eight days later in Terre Haute, Indiana.

In Division II, the NCAA regionals will be held on November 5th in Billings, Montana, and the nationals held on the 19th in Saint Leo, Florida.

As always, please visit the teams’ websites for updated information.

NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Washington, Washington State, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, SeattleU, Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, Central Washington, and Saint Martin’s contributed to this report.