Both Husky harrier squads formally announced as NCAA XC qualifiers; Gonzaga men earn at-large berth...

INDIANAPOLIS--Both University of Washington squads are officially headed to Tallahassee, Florida for next Saturday's NCAA cross country championships after finishing second at Friday's West Regional championships in Sacramento, as the NCAA formally announced the 31 teams in Saturday's selection show.

The Husky women's squad, which had all five of its scoring individuals place inside the top 25, goes to the national title race for the fourteenth straight season, led by All-Americans Allie Schadler (Paul Merca photo) and Haley Herberg, who were 10th and 11th in Sacramento Friday. 

On the men's side, the Dawgs qualified for the fifth straight season, led by West regional champ Kieran Lumb, who also towed Brian Fay and Leo Daschbach to top-10 finishes.

Based on the strength of its regular season schedule, highlighted by a seventh place finish at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, the Gonzaga Bulldogs will make its second straight team appearance at the national championships.

Gonzaga was the third team from the West region to earn a spot in the NCAA title race, after finishing fifth behind Stanford, Washington, West Coast Conference rival Portland, and Oregon.

Washington State's Amir Ado (Paul Merca photo) will compete in his first NCAA championship race after his 13th place finish at the regionals, where he ran 30:03. Ado, a Spokane native who attended Ferris HS, was one of four individuals from the West region selected whose teams did not qualify.

The Gonzaga women, despite a fourth place finish in the West regionals, did not earn a second team appearance, as Oregon's third place finish was good enough to bump the Zags out of the national championship race.

Kristen Garcia of the Zags will make her second straight, and third career appearance at the NCAA cross country championships after her third place finish in Sacramento, as one of four individuals from the West whose teams did not qualify.

Garcia, a native of Sedro Wooley, was third in the 6k race in 20:04. Garcia was 129th in the delayed 2020 championships, and was 232nd in the 2018 national championship race while running at the University of Wisconsin.

Also selected as an individual was former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell, who transferred to Oregon State. Mitchell was 12th at regionals in 20:16. This marks Mitchell's second straight Division I championship appearance, as she was an All American at the delayed 2020 championships in March, finishing 20th.

The NCAA release with the full field of teams and individuals is available here.

NOTE: The NCAA contributed to this report.

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