Championship weekend starts Friday in Riverside, Portland & Cheney...
Championship Weekend awaits Washington's five NCAA Division I schools Friday and Saturday, as WASHINGTON & WASHINGTON STATE head to Riverside, California for the Pac-12 championships, while GONZAGA heads to Portland for the West Coast Conference championships.
EASTERN WASHINGTON stays home in Cheney to host the Big Sky Conference championship on Friday, and SEATTLE UNIVERSITY travels to Nacodoches, Texas for the Western Athletic Conference title race Saturday.
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
The women's 6K race will kick things off at 8:40 a.m., before the men close things out with the 8K race at 9:40 a.m. Both races will be televised on the Pac-12 Network (628 on Comcast Xfinity in Seattle).
Both Washington squads go into the championship meet nationally ranked, with the women's team at number 19, and the men sitting at number 20 in the latest USTFCCCA poll.
As has been the case for most of the last fifteen years, the Pac-12 championships is stacked with nationally ranked teams.
The men's race is headlined by number 1 Stanford, who took over the top spot from defending national champion Northern Arizona by winning the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin two weeks ago.
Also ranked in the field is number 10 Colorado, and a resurgent number 15 Oregon.
The women's field is just as loaded, led by number 9 Stanford, number 10 Utah, number 11 Colorado, number 12 Oregon, and number 30 Oregon State.
The Washington women are expected to have back in the fold 2020 Pac-12 cross country champion Haley Herberg (Paul Merca photo), who has yet to open her 2022 campaign, and Naomi Smith, who ran in the B section of the Nuttycombe, where she ran 21:12 to finish 11th.
The Dawgs are looking to bounce back from a 16th place finish at Nuttycombe, a performance that wasn't up to the expectations of UW director of cross country/track & field Maurica Powell, who lamented after the race that "we leave unsatisfied with a poorly executed race by our older women, and we really needed them to off-set what is always a big learning opportunity for the freshmen."
The Husky men are rounding into form after their 15th place team finish in Wisconsin, as both All-American Brian Fay, and Leo Daschbach opened their 2022 season at Nuttycombe.
"We were a little banged up at the start of the season so we're going to have to improve here in the next month if we want to make nationals. But I'm optimistic that we can do it," said UW men's head coach Andy Powell.
Washington State is looking to make some noise going into the Pac-12s, particularly on the women's side, after a fifth place finish at the Weis-Crockett Invitational two weeks ago on this year's NCAA championship course in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
In that race, Alaina Stone-Boggs in fourth, and Caroline Jerotich in 16th, placed in the top 20.
"(WSU women's cross country) has been doing absolutely amazing this season. Coach (Laura) Harmon has done a great job with that team. That group has really improved a lot from last year and from week to week, race to race. I'm really excited to watch them compete this weekend," said Cougar director Wayne Phipps.
Phipps is also excited about his trio of front runners on the men's side, in Brian Barsaiya, Kelvin Limo, and Leif Swanson, who were the top three finishers for the Cougars in Stillwater two weeks ago.
At last year's Pac-12s, Washington was third in the men's race, and fourth in the women's race, while Washington State finished fifth in the men's team race, and seventh in the women's race.
WEST COAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Portland's Fernhill Park, near Portland International Airport, hosts the West Coast Conference championship meet on Friday, with the meet featuring two nationally ranked teams in defending champion BYU, along with the host Portland Pilots on the men's side.
Had this piece been written earlier in the season, both Bulldog squads would be included, but they dropped out of the national rankings after performances at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison two weeks ago, where the then-14th ranked men's team was 26th, and the women were 36th.
Gonzaga is expected to have back in its arsenal three time NCAA cross country qualifier and US Olympic Trials participant James Mwaura (Paul Merca photo), who has not raced all season. Zag men's head coach Pat Tyson recently said that Mwaura is rusty from not racing all season, but he is healthy and ready to go.
Mwaura was second in last year's conference race, behind BYU's Conner Mantz. The Zags also return Cullen McEachern and Wil Smith, who finished sixth and seventh at last year's race.
Kristen Garcia, who has qualified for the last two NCAA cross country championships, is looking to improve upon her seventh place finish at last year's championship race. Gonzaga was second to BYU last year, but will have to run a better team race to get past both BYU and Portland. BYU was second at Nuttycombe, while Portland finished 11th.
At Nuttycombe, the Bulldogs were missing Rosina Machu, who was 17th at the WCC championships and Sadie Tuckwood, who was 20th at WCCs.
Friday's meet starts at 10 am with the women's 6k, and an hour later with the men's 8k. If you can’t make it to the course in person, both championships will be streamed by the WCC Network live on WCCsports.com.
BIG SKY CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Big Sky championships return to the state of Washington Friday as Eastern Washington hosts the conference championship meet at the Fairways Golf Course in Cheney, not too far from the EWU campus.
The men's 8k race gets the day started at 10 am, followed an hour later by the women's 5k race at Fairways Golf Course.
All eyes will be on the Northern Arizona Lumberjack squads, who go into the meet ranked number 3 in the men's USTFCCCA national poll, and number 4 in the women's national poll after strong showings at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin two weeks ago.
The men's squad are the defending national champions, and are looking for some help from their numbers 3 through 5 runners to close the gap from their frontrunners Nico Young and Drew Bosley if they plan to repeat on the top spot on the podium at the NCAA championships next month.
That said, only Montana State on the men's side (number 21 in the poll) is expected to take a serious run at the Lumberjacks. Northern Arizona looks to sweep both titles for the 19th time in conference history.
At last year's championship meet in Portland, Eastern Washington finished 11th in the women's race, and eighth in the men's race.
Jasmin Muneton and Noah Hasselblad are the top returning finishers at last year's championship meet, finishing 54th in the women's 5k, and 44th in the men's 8k race.
WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Seattle University travels to Nacodoches, Texas for the Western Athletic Conference championship on Saturday at Pecan Acres Park, hosted by Stephen F. Austin University.
The Redhawks have run only three races this season, finishing third in the men's team race and second in the women's race at the Portland State Rust Buster on September 2nd; the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem on October 1st, where they were fifth and the women won; and at the Lewis & Clark Invitational in Estacada, Oregon, where the women's squad was sixth, and the men's team were ninth.
Cal Baptist is the overwhelming favorite to win, as they enter the meet ranked number 14 in the USTFCCCA women's poll, and number 25 in the men's poll. Utah Valley is the only other nationally ranked team in the conference, as their women's squad are the number 24 team in the national poll.
SeattleU's top returning runners from the team that ran at last year's championships are Emily Harris, who was 34th, and Alex Franklin, who was 66th.
GONZAGA & EASTERN B SQUADS CONCLUDE REGULAR SEASON AT SASQUATCH INVITE...
Gonzaga men's and women's cross country, comprised of runners not traveling to the conference championship meet, swept both individual and team races at the Sasquatch Open in Spokane, hosted by Spokane CC Wednesday at the Spokane Polo Fields.
Emily Phelps of Gonzaga won the women's 5k in 17:59, while Sammy Geiger won the men's 8k in 24:13.
Nicole DeHerrera was Eastern Washington's top finisher in the women's race, crossing in 18:44 to take third. Alec Kness was the Eagles' lone representative, placing 17th in 26:13.
NOTE: The Pac-12 Conference, West Coast Conference, Big Sky Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference contributed to this report.
paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links.
Comments