Both Washington squads & Gonzaga's James Mwaura set for Saturday's NCAA cross country champs...
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| Washington’s Shona McCulloch, Katie Rainsberger & Allie Schadler (Paul Merca photo) |
The women's 6,000-meters will be first up at 8:15 a.m. Pacific time and the men's 10,000-meters follows at 9:15 a.m. Pacific. A live webcast of the meet will be streamed on media partner Flotrack.org ($).
For the Huskies, this is the 26th NCAA appearance for the fourth-ranked Husky women's squad and the 17th appearance for the 11th-ranked men. It is the ninth time that both Husky teams have qualified in the same season, including both years under coaches Maurica and Andy Powell.
The Washington women are coming off two straight runner-up finishes at the Pac-12 championships in Monmouth, Oregon, and the NCAA West Regionals last Friday in Colfax.
In Colfax, the Dawgs ran perhaps their most complete team race of the season, placing six runners in the top 20, led by freshman Melany Smart's third place finish in 19:59 over 6k. More impressive was the Huskies' 1-5 split of 19 seconds, a gap that they will need to run to have a realistic spot at a top-4 finish and a place on the podium.
Washington will run senior All-Americans Katie Rainsberger and Lilli Burdon, with Rainsberger looking for a fourth career All-America honor and Burdon a third. Junior Allie Schadler makes her third NCAA appearance, while it's the second for sophomores Shona McCulloch and Haley Herberg. Sophomore Camila David-Smith and freshman Mel Smart make their NCAA Championship debuts, and junior Hannah Waskom will be the alternate for the Dawgs.
The Husky women have made two appearances this season at LaVern Gibson, finishing third at the McNichols Invitational in late September, and winning the Pre-Nationals in October.
Australian freshman Smart has been in the top-10 of every race she's run this year, and Rainsberger has been top-10 in all but one race, and she led UW in sixth-place at Pre-Nats.
On the men's side, Washington will run seniors Julius Diehr, Andrew Jordan and Jack Rowe, junior Tibebu Proctor, sophomores Isaac Green and Alex Slenning, and freshman Sam Tanner. Proctor is the only Husky who raced at NCAAs last season, as a Husky, that is.
Jordan and Rowe both ran at Nationals last year for Iowa State and San Francisco, respectively. The two transfers helped the Huskies get back to nationals despite graduating three of their five scorers from the 2018 squad that finished sixth-place for the best men's finish in 29 years.
Iowa State transfer Jordan won the West Region title last week in Colfax, becoming the first Husky male ever to win that title and Rowe had his second-straight top-20 finish as he was 16th, after placing 19th at Pac-12s. Jordan also led the Dawgs with a third-place Pac-12 run and he was seventh at Pre-Nationals as UW was fourth that day in Terre Haute.
Gonzaga's James Mwaura, who finished third at the West Regionals in Colfax, will become the second runner in school history to participate in the NCAA championship race.
Mwaura has continued his phenomenal young career at Gonzaga. He opened the season by defending his individual title at the Cougar Classic in Colfax.
Then against national competition, placed eighth at the Joe Piane Invitational in Notre Dame, Ind., before crossing the line in 15th at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wis. The Lincoln/Tacoma product was tabbed All-Conference for the second straight season, following a fourth-place finish at the West Coast Conference Championships.
Other notable athletes with Washington ties participating in the NCAA championships include Boise State's Miler Haller (Edmonds/Woodway HS), who was fourth at the West Regionals; Colorado's John Dressel (Mt. Spokane HS); and, Jack Yearian of Oregon (Bellarmine Prep HS).
Washington's release is available here, while Gonzaga's is available here.
The link to live results is available here.
NOTE: The NCAA and the sports information offices of the University of Washington and Gonzaga University contributed to this report.
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