Freshmen James Mwaura and Emma Jenkins score their second straight wins of the season at Cougar Classic...

COLFAX—It was “freshmen rules” late Friday afternoon at the Cougar Classic contested at the Colfax Golf Club, as Gonzaga’s James Mwaura (left/photo courtesy Gonzaga University) and Washington State’s Emma Jenkins each won their second straight meets of the young collegiate cross country season.

In the men’s 8k, Mwaura, the graduate of Lincoln HS in Tacoma, who was the national high school leader this past season in both the 3200 and 2 mile races, won by a comfortable margin of 14 seconds over University of Washington steeplechase All-American Andrew Gardner, as the Bulldog freshman ran 23:55 to Gardner’s 24:09.

Mwaura took command of the race a little bit before the halfway mark, and maintained his lead through the remainder of the race. In contrast, Gardner was fifth at the halfway point, and worked his way to second over the last two laps of the race.

Kyle Thompson of Gonzaga was third in 24:17, as the Zags took six of the top ten spots.

Mwaura captured his second win of the season, after taking the victory at the Clash of the Inland Northwest in Moscow two weeks ago.

For host Washington State, which held out its top eight runners, Kennan Schrag led the way with his fifth place finish in 24:22.

Eastern Washington was led by Isaac Barville’s 17th place finish in 24:57.

Gonzaga easily took the team title with 21 points, followed by Pepperdine’s 78, and Washington State’s 78 (Pepperdine won the tiebreaker).  Eastern Washington finished seventh with 155 points.

In the women’s 6k, Emma Jenkins of Washington State, the product of Camas HS, scored an eight-second victory over Portland State’s Sarah Medved, running 20:53 to Medved’s 21:01, with Idaho’s Andrea Condie third in 21:02.

This was Jenkins’ second straight win on the season, after winning the WSU Alumni race on this course two weeks ago.

Gonzaga’s top finisher was Lauren Haas in 16th in 22:11, while Eastern Washington was led by Lily Tyrell in 32nd in 22:52.

The Cougars held out All-American Vallery Korir.

Portland State edged out the host Cougars 34-44 for the team title. Gonzaga was fourth with 103 points, while Eastern Washington was seventh with 190 points.

Washington State next runs at the Under Armour Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on September 28th, while Gonzaga and Eastern Washington head to Missoula for the Montana Invitational on the same day.

Results of the Cougar Classic are available here, along with WSU's recap.

NOTE:  The sports information offices of Washington State University, Gonzaga University and Eastern Washington University contributed to this report.