The road to the NCAA national championships ends in Tallahassee Saturday morning...
Nine months after the completion of the delayed 2020 NCAA Division I cross country championships (photo courtesy Florida State University), the 2021 championships will put a bow onto the season Saturday at the Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida.
Both Washington squads and the Gonzaga men's team, fresh off racing at the NCAA regionals in Sacramento on November 12th, must make an eight-day turnaround to race. However, the Dawgs and Zags will rack up some serious frequent flyer miles, as the trip to Florida are the teams' longest venture of the season. Those teams, along with Oregon and Portland, are traveling the furthest to run in Tallahassee.
The UW men's and women's teams made the championship field, with the women making their 15th-straight appearance and the men for the fifth. Champions will be crowned bright and early on Saturday, as the women's 6k race runs at 7:20 a.m. Pacific time and the men's 10k race follows at 8:10 a.m. You can watch the NCAA cross country championships live on ESPNU and the ESPN app beginning at 7:00 a.m.
Gonzaga is making its second straight appearance as a team at the national championships, after qualifying for the first time in school history in March in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Both Husky teams qualified for the NCAA meet by virtue of runner-up finishes at the West Regionals last weekend. The Dawgs head into the meet ranked 12th on the men's side and 23rd on the women's side based on the most recent USTFCCCA coaches poll.
The Zags had to sweat it out until Saturday's selection show before it got word that it qualified as one of 13 teams earning an at-large berth after finishing fifth at the West regionals.
Barring any last minute changes, Washington and Gonzaga will run essentially the same athletes that they ran in Sacramento, with All-American Allie Schadler and regional champ Kieran Lumb leading the way for the Huskies, along with Olympic Trials 10000m qualifier James Mwaura for Gonzaga.
In addition to Washington and Gonzaga, at least six runners with Washington ties are entered in the championships.
Oklahoma State's Taylor Roe from Lake Stevens, who finished second in the delayed 2020 championships in March, returns to lead her number 6-ranked team into the national championships.
Notre Dame's Olivia Markezich, a US Olympic Trials qualifier in the steeplechase from Woodinville, is part of a strong Notre Dame squad that enters the championships ranked number 10. Her twin sister Andrea is on the Washington travel squad.
Portland's Bradley Peloquin from Gig Harbor finished 50th at the West regionals in Sacramento, running 30:56, to help lead the Pilots to a third place finish and an at-large berth. Peloquin was 163rd in the 2020 championships in March.
Gonzaga's Kristen Garcia from Sedro Wooley, who finished third at the West regionals, and former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell of Oregon State, who finished 12th at regionals, return to the big dance after competing in March as two of the four individuals not on competing teams. Mitchell earned an All-America certificate in March after finishing 20th, while Garcia was 129th.
Washington State's Amir Ado, who finished 13th at the West regionals, earned one of the four individual berths to the national championships. He's the first Cougar to compete in the national championships since the 2017 men's team ran in Louisville.
The tentative start list and the link to live results is available here.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA and the sports information offices of Florida State University, the University of Washington, Gonzaga University and Washington State University contributed to this report.
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