Spokane native Nick Hauger wins NCAA West Regional title & leads #4 Portland Pilots to team crown ahead of Huskies...
Hauger, the reigning West Coast Conference champion who prepped at Shadle Park HS, kept himself in the top ten for most of the race, keeping himself within striking distance of Cal’s Garrett Corcoran, who tried to make a breakaway from the field shortly after the 5k mark.
He was part of a large group of runners pursuing Corcoran, including the University of Washington’s Tanner Anderson, and Gonzaga University freshman James Mwaura.
Hauger crossed the line in a time of 29:43 over the 10k distance, holding off a late charge from Arizona’s Carlos Villarreal, who finished second one second behind.
Washington’s Tanner Anderson took fourth in 29:45, while Mwaura was tenth in 29:49.
Two spots behind Mwaura was Washington’s Talon Hull in 29:50, while Husky senior Fred Huxham snuck inside the top twenty with his 17th place finish in 29:53.
Hauger’s winning performance gave the Pilots, the country’s number 4 team, the team title with a low score of 77 points, five better than the Huskies’ 82, giving both schools the automatic bids into next Saturday’s NCAA Championships in Madison, Wisconsin.
Number 22 ranked Washington State finished seventh with 218 points, led by Chandler Teigen’s 27th place finish in 30:06, while the Bulldogs, who entered the regionals ranked #28 in the country, finished ninth with 229 points.
The Cougars’ seventh place finish puts Washington State on the bubble in their quest to advance to next week’s national championships, while Gonzaga’s ninth place finish may have the Bulldogs on the outside looking in, with their fate to be decided by the NCAA committee, which will announce the 13 at-large teams (top two teams from each of the nine regional championships contested Friday advance) that get into Madison on Saturday.
If Gonzaga fails to advance to the national championships, there’s a strong probability that Mwaura’s tenth place finish will be good enough for him to advance as an individual.
Seattle University finished 22nd with 644 points, led by Nathan Pixler, who finished 92nd in 31:26.
Eastern Washington was 28th in the 29 team field with 713 points, led by Isaac Barville’s 111th place finish in 31:50.
In the women’s 6k race, the 17th ranked Washington Huskies finished a comfortable 4th place with 118 points, as the #2 Oregon Ducks took the team title with 44 points, five better than #3 Boise State’s 49.
#6 Stanford was third with 95 points, while #19 Portland was fifth with 144 points.
Leading the way for the Huskies was Katie Rainsberger, who finished ninth in 19:41, as Boise State’s Allie Ostrander, the two-time NCAA steeplechase champ, took the win in 19:09.
Washington program director Maurica Powell was impressed by the performances of sophomore Allie Schadler, who finished 21st in 20:14, and redshirt freshman Shona McCullouch, who was 28th in 20:30.
Finishing the scoring for the Huskies were Lilli Burdon in 33rd in 20:38, and Emily Hamlin in 34th in 20:40.
Washington State was 15th with 399 points, led by Vallery Korir, who was 49th in 21:00. Gonzaga was 24th with 714, led by Aimee Piercy in 83rd in 21:25.
Seattle University was 31st with 960 points, with Rachel Kastama leading the way in 187th place in 22:42, while Eastern Washington was 34th in the 36 team field with 1076 points, as Johanna Sherman was their first runner across the line in a time of 22:51 in 196th place.
Complete results of the NCAA West Regionals are available here.
NOTE: The sports information offices at Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Seattle University, University of Washington, Washington State and Sacramento State University contributed to this report.
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