Washington women earn automatic berth; Huskies' Andrew Jordan wins regional title...
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| Washington's Melany Smart (l) and Katie Rainsberger (Paul Merca photo) |
Fourth-ranked Washington, who finished second to Stanford at the Pac-12 championships in Monmouth, Oregon two weeks ago, was looking to improve on its 1-5 split of 30 seconds, while making a run at Pac-12 champ Stanford, currently ranked number 2 in the country.
The Huskies went to the front early, as they had six runners in the top eleven at the end of the first of three laps of the Colfax Golf Course.
Freshman Melany Smart led through the first two laps, with Jessica Lawson & Ella Donaghu of Stanford in close contact.
The Cardinal, who sat out Pac-12 champ Fiona O’Keeffe, took command on the final lap, with Donaghu winning in 19:51, and Lawson second in 19:55.
Smart was third in 19:59, while Katie Rainsberger was sixth in 20:06.
The Huskies got all their scorers in the top 15 with Shona McCulloch 11th in 20:13, Allie Schadler in 14th in 20:17, and Lilli Burdon 15th in 20:18.
Rounding out the seven Washington runners were Camila David-Smith in 20th in 20:27, and Oklahoma transfer Haley Herberg in 30th in 20:41.
UW director of track/cross country Maurica Powell was pleased that her squad got their 1-5 split down inside 20 seconds, noting that the team's efforts were better than at the Pac-12s two weeks ago.
Stanford earned the win over Washington by a count of 39-49, as they got all their scorers inside the top 20.
Finishing third was Boise State with 86, followed by Oregon with 145, and Arizona fifth with 188.
Washington State was ninth with 272 points, led by Zorana Grujic, who was 39th in 20:51. Gonzaga finished 15th with 460 points, as Claire Manley led the way in 27th in a time of 20:37.
Seattle University finished 28th with 807 points, led by Olivia Stein in 61st in 21:10, and Eastern Washington was 34th with 1025, with Rees Jacot leading the way in 188th in 22:42.
JORDAN BECOMES FIRST HUSKY TO WIN REGIONALS; WASHINGTON HS PRODUCTS JAMES MWAURA AND MILER HALLER FINISH THIRD AND FOURTH...
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| Washington's Andrew Jordan became the first Husky to win a NCAA regional cross country title (Paul Merca photo) |
Jordan, who transferred to the University of Washington from Iowa State University, went to the front almost immediately, and stayed there, with Portland’s Emmanuel Roudolff-Levisse sitting just behind him.
With 1000 meters to go, Roudolff-Levisse took the lead from Jordan, but a late surge gave the Husky the victory in 29:44, with the Portland senior second in 29:45.
Behind Roudolff-Levisse were a pair of Washington high school standouts, as Gonzaga’s James Mwaura from Tacoma’s Lincoln HS finished third in 29:54, and Boise State’s Miler Haller from Edmonds-Woodway HS was fourth in 29:55.
For the Huskies, Jack Rowe was 16th in 30:03, followed by All-American Tibebu Proctor in 26th at 30:14. Alex Slenning with 33rd in 30:36, and Julius Diehr was 39th in 30:43, giving Washington a 1-5 split of 59 seconds. Isaac Green was up with his teammates, but lost a shoe, and Husky coach Andy Powell pulled him off the course. 2018 Pac-12 runner-up Talon Hull was rested.
Behind Mwaura, Gonzaga’s Peter Hogan was 15th in 30:03, followed by Cullen McEachern in 35th in 30:39, followed by Jake Perrin in 46th in 30:51, and Phillip Fishburn in 49th at 30:56.
Portland, the nation’s 11th ranked team, placed all five scorers in the top 20 to win the regional title with 65 points, followed by Stanford at 78.
A late surge gave tenth-ranked Oregon third place with 90 points, followed by the 14th-ranked Huskies at 115, and 27th ranked Boise State at 133.
Unranked Gonzaga finished sixth with 148, ahead of Washington State at 177, and tenth-ranked UCLA, who had 181 points.
(NOTE: In the original version of the post, UCLA was listed as seventh and WSU eighth; the original scores and places posted were the preliminary team scores).
The Cougars were led by Amir Ado, who finished 24th in 30:10 after dropping out of the Pac-12 championship race in Monmouth two weeks ago.
Eastern Washington was 25th with 687 points, as Carter Ledwith led the way in 63rd in 31:10, while Seattle University was 26th at 696 points, led by Nathan Pixler’s 106th place finish in 31:54.
Both Washington and Gonzaga must wait until Saturday at 2pm, Pacific time, to find out if they will receive an at-large berth from the NCAA. Mwaura is assured a spot on the line at next week’s NCAA championship as an individual should Gonzaga not get selected as a team.
Ironically, Washington State's seventh place finish ahead of UCLA, the nation's tenth ranked team, may prevent Gonzaga from advancing to its first-ever NCAA team championship berth, even though Gonzaga coach Pat Tyson was pleased with his team's efforts. Flotrack projects that only five teams will advance to next week's national championships out of the West Region, leaving the Zags as the odd team out.
Complete results of the NCAA West Regional cross country championships are available here.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Gonzaga University, the University of Washington, Washington State University, and Record Timing contributed to this report.
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