All five Washington Division I schools open the cross country season this weekend...
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| Incoming Husky freshman Sam Tanner (#8) follows current Husky Mick Stanovsek during the invitational men's 1500 at the Brooks PR meet in June. (Paul Merca photo) |
The 2019 collegiate cross country season opens for all five Washington Division I schools Friday and Saturday, as the teams get an opportunity to assess how their athletes have handled their off season training before racing in higher level competition.
The University of Washington will host Seattle University in the UW/Seattle University open meet Friday at 11 am at Warren G. Magnuson Park in the Sand Point neighborhood.
The course has been modified from the course used several years ago, and will stay on a 800 meter loop around the perimeter of the park.
The women’s race at 11 am will be 3 miles, while the men’s race will be 4 miles, starting at 11:45 am.
The Huskies, who are ranked #3 in both the men’s and women’s national pre-season poll by the USTFCCCA, are expected to run most of their returning athletes, along with an incoming class that is ranked among the tops in the country. That group of new Dawgs is led by sub-4 minute miler Sam Tanner from New Zealand on the men’s side and Melany Smart from Australia on the women’s side.
The Redhawks will be led by Sammamish native Nathan Pixler, who was their top returning finisher at the WAC championships, and University of Minnesota transfer Hamza Ali, who ran for Team USA two years ago at the IAAF world cross country championships in Uganda in the under-20 race.
Rachel Kastama is the Redhawks’ top returning runner from the team that finished seventh at the WAC championships in Seattle last year.
Later on Friday, Washington State opens its season with the WSU Open in Colfax starting with the women’s 6k race at 5:15 pm, and the men’s race 30 minutes later.
This race will be the first of three races the Cougars will host this season at the Colfax Golf Course, with the final race being the NCAA West Regionals on November 15th.
As has been the case in the past, the WSU Open is essentially an intra-squad race, with a few guest alumni runners thrown in.
Washington State’s pre meet release is available here.
Saturday, Eastern Washington hosts Gonzaga, Idaho, Montana, Lewis-Clark State, Whitman and Whitworth in the Clash of the Inland Northwest meet on the school’s practice fields west of the EWU Sports & Recreation Center, starting at 10 am with the women’s 4k race, and the men’s 6k race at 10:30.
The Eastern men's team has seven returning letterwinners on its team, plus two non-lettering squad members and three newcomers. The women return five letterwinners from last year's team and has six newcomers. Both teams are still dominated by underclassmen – the women's team has no juniors or seniors on its 11-person roster, while just three of 12 men's competitors are upperclassmen.
Gonzaga returns plenty of talent and experience this season. Four of Gonzaga's top five finishers at the 2018 NCAA West Regionals return this year, including sophomore James Mwaura, who was named All-Region last season.
Eastern’s pre-meet release is available here.
NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Washington, Washington State University, Seattle University, Gonzaga University, and Eastern Washington University contributed to this report.
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