Lake Stevens HS alum Taylor Roe gets second at Cowboy Jamboree...

STILLWATER, Oklahoma--Lake Stevens HS alum Taylor Roe (Paul Merca photo) of Oklahoma State, who has placed in the top five at the last two NCAA cross country championships, showed that she will be a major player come November when the NCAA championships return to Stillwater, with her second place finish at the Cowboy Jamboree Saturday morning at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course.

Roe finished in a time of 20:21, three seconds behind freshman teammate Natalie Cook, who ran 20:18 over the 6k course.

Roe started slowly, finding herself in about 25th place through the first K, but worked her way to get second.

The Washington women, who entered the day ranked sixth in the recent USTFCCCA coaches poll, finished eighth with a team score of 217 points, as host Oklahoma State, thanks to the 1-2 finish by Cook and Roe, scoring a low of 69 points.

Northern Arizona was second with 88 points, followed by BYU at 111, then Colorado in fourth with 155, and Stanford at 171.

The Huskies were led by Anna Gibson's 19th place finish in 20:47. Gibson was followed by Sophie O'Sullivan in 37th at 21:10, then freshman Sophia Nordenholz in 21:13.

The final two scorers for Washington were Chloe Foerster in 52nd at 21:21, then Andrea Markezich in 79th in 21:39.

Out of the group the Huskies ran, only Markezich had run on this course, as the squad U-Dub lined up consisted primarily of freshmen, with Gibson, O'Sullivan and Markezich the only veterans from the 2021 squad competing.

In the men's 8k race, Yacine Guermali led the way for the 16th ranked Bulldogs of Gonzaga with his 15th place finish in 23:43.

Following Guemali for the Zags were Cullen McEachern in 46th at 24:09. then Wil Smith in 50th at 24:10.

Kyle Radosevich was 65th at 24:16, with Bryce Cerkowniak rounding out the scorers in 72nd at 24:20.

The Washington Huskies, who entered the meet ranked number 8 in the latest USTFCCCA poll, ran a squad comprising of middle distance standouts.

NCAA 1500m All-American Luke Houser led the way for the Dawgs in 26th place at 23:51.  He was followed by Isaac Green in 81st at 24:28, then Sam Affolder in 104th at 24:43.

Freshman Evan Jenkins from Camas was UW's fourth runner in 115th at 24:32, with NCAA 1500m champ Joe Waskom rounding out the scorers in 125th at 24:59.

Alex Maier of host Oklahoma State was the individual winner in 23:17.

BYU won the team title with 75 points, followed by Stanford at 101, Northern Arizona at 110, Oklahoma State with 118, and Tulsa at 143.

Gonzaga took tenth with 245, and the Huskies were 14th at 410.

Complete results of the Cowboy Jamboree are available here.

In Ferndale, Western Washington's men's and women's squads swept the Bill Roe Invitational at Hovander Homestead Park Saturday morning.

British internationalist Tom Anderson (Paul Merca photo), a Seattle resident and Butler University alum who competes for Club Northwest, was the runaway winner of the men's 8k, winning in 23:35.

Western Washington, the number 29 team in Division II in the latest USTFCCA rankings, was led by Kevin McDermott, who was third in 24:38.

Andrew Oslin was fourth for the Vikings in 24:42, followed by Jeret Gillingham in tenth at 25:04.

Jared Alderfer was 13th in 25:09. and Ryan Clough was 16th in 25:19.

Shawn Clough was the top Central Washington finisher in 24th at 25:37.

The Vikings beat Simon Fraser by a 43-50 count, followed by the University of Victoria at 108.

Seattle's Club Northwest was fifth with 120, while Central Washington was eighth with 201 points.

Haverford College alum Amelia Keyser-Gibson (Paul Merca photo), who competed for The Bush School, won the women's women's 6k in a time of 21:12, over Wisconsin alum Erin Wagner of Club Northwest, who crossed the line in 21:23.

Mia Crocker of host Western Washington was the first collegian across the line in fourth at 22:03.

The Vikings packed four runners between places 11-20, paced by Ashley Reeck in 11th at 22:45, followed by Allana Parker in 12th at 22:47. and Meaera Shannon in 13th in the same time.

Sophie Wright was Western's fifth scorer in 18th at 23:00.

Roșie Melville was Central Washington's top finisher in 45th at 24:16.

Western Washington, ranked number 20 in the USTFCCCA women's national poll, beat number 9 ranked Simon Fraser by a 53-72 count. 

The Bellingham Distance Project, led by winner Keyser-Gibson, was third with 81 points, and Seattle's Club Northwest was fifth at 93 points.

Seattle Running Club was seventh with 193, and Central Washington was eighth at 215.

Complete results of the Bill Roe Invitational are available here.

NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Washington, Gonzaga University, Oklahoma State University, and Western Washington University contributed to this report.

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