All five Washington D1 squads in action in final regular season races...

For Washington’s five NCAA Division I schools, this weekend will in many cases, help determine which individuals will run in the various conference championship meets that will be contested in two weeks.

The action starts Friday, as Washington State and Gonzaga (men only), led by sophomore James Mwaura (left/photo by Paul Merca) sends their teams to Madison, Wisconsin for the Nuttycombe Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin.

Saturday, the #4 ranked men’s squad and the #8 ranked University of Washington women’s teams head off to Terre Haute, Indiana for the Under Armour Pre-Nationals meet on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course, which will host the NCAA cross country championships in mid-November.

Washington will be in the Blue Races with additional individuals running in the open races. The women's 6,000-meter Blue Race will go early Saturday at 8 a.m. Pacific time and feature 37 teams including 10 teams currently ranked in the USTFCCCA Top-30. The men's 8,000-meter Blue Race follows at 8:35 a.m. Pacific and has 38 teams in the field including 10 ranked in the Top-30.

The Huskies will run all of their projected top runners at the Pre-Nationals, with the exception of freshman Melany Smart, who is being rested this weekend.

Meanwhile, the Gonzaga women’s team heads to College Station, Texas for the Arturo Barrios Invitational, hosted by Texas A&M.

Finally, both Seattle University and Eastern Washington will send teams to Sunnyvale, California for the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational on Saturday.

Runners from Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, and Washington State not making the trip will compete Friday afternoon at the Sasquatch Invitational, hosted by Spokane CC, at the Downriver Golf Course in Spokane.

In addition, Central Washington will run a select number of runners, as they are the only Division II school in action this week, as they tune up for next weekend’s GNAC championships in Montana.

Links are provided to the news releases of all five Washington D1 schools.

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