Both Washington squads & Gonzaga men remain in final regular season USTFCCCA coaches' poll...

NEW ORLEANS--The University of Washington men's cross country team (Paul Merca photo) moved up one spot, while the women's squad dropped two spots, and the Gonzaga men's team fell six positions in the final USTFCCCA Division I cross country national coaches' poll released Monday.

The Washington men are ranked number 12 in the national poll after their second place finish in the NCAA West Regionals in Sacramento on Friday, while Gonzaga dropped to number 21 after finishing fifth at the regionals.

The nation's top five men's teams are in order: Northern Arizona, BYU, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, and Colorado.

Stanford, the West regional champs, comes in at number 7 and Oregon at number 20 as the other two Pac-12 teams in the national top 30. Portland is the only other West Coast Conference school ranked in the top 30 at number 22, after they finished a strong third at regionals.

The Washington women fell two spots to number 23 in the national poll, while Gonzaga, which made the poll for the first time since the 2015 season after their second place finish in the West Coast Conference meet at number 29, dropped out of the national rankings after their fourth place finish at regionals.

Heading into the national championships, the top five teams in the coaches' poll are in order: North Carolina State, New Mexico, Colorado, BYU, and Minnesota.

Other Pac-12 teams in the national top 30 include number 16 and West regional champs Stanford, and number 26 Oregon, which earned the only at-large berth out of the West region to the national championships with their third place finish. 

Champions will be crowned on Saturday, November 20, as the 2021 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will take place at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida. Don’t forget that you can watch the meet LIVE, commercial-free on ESPNU beginning at 7 am PT!

The USTFCCCA release is available here.

NEWS AND NOTES...

At the NCAA Great Lakes regional meet on Friday in Evansville, Indiana, Woodinville native Olivia Markezich finished second behind Notre Dame teammate Maddy Denner as the duo led the Fighting Irish to the team title.

Markezich, an Olympic Trials qualifier in the steeplechase last summer, ran 19:58 for 6k to finish two seconds behind Denner.

Notre Dame won with 56 points in a close race with Wisconsin, who scored 69 points.

In the Midwest regional meet in Iowa City, Iowa, Lake Stevens native Taylor Roe, competing for Oklahoma State University, finished second behind Cailie Logue of Iowa State.

Roe finished with a time of 20:47, one second behind Logue.

Roe was second in the delayed 2020 NCAA championships last March in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Puget Sound's Colin Monaghan (photo courtesy Puget Sound Athletics) was selected to compete in his third NCAA Division III cross country championship as an individual after finishing 12th at the Division III West Regionals in Claremont, California on Saturday.

Monaghan ran the 8k course in 25:14.

In his two previous NCAA championship appearances, he finished 69th in 2018, and 200th in 2019 (the NCAA D3 championships were cancelled in 2020).

NOTE: The USTFCCCA and the sports information office of the University of Puget Sound contributed to this report.

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