Huskies host NCAA West Regionals at Chambers Creek, while Zags look to extend qualifying streak...

UNIVERSITY PLACE--Washington's five NCAA Division I schools make the relatively short trek to Chambers Creek Regional Park south of Tacoma for Friday's NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships, hosted by the University of Washington.

The women's 6k race gets things started at 10 am, with the men's 10k going an hour later.

All five Washington schools were on the course Friday afternoon, along with many of the 38 schools in the field to check out the Chambers Creek course, which had firm footing, despite the rain earlier in the week.

The meet is the second of three major meets the venue will host, having hosted the NCAA Division II Pre-Nationals on October 22nd, with the NCAA Division II championships on the table December 2nd, as part of the NCAA Division II Fall Sports Festival in the Seattle metropolitan area.

Both the host Huskies (Paul Merca photo), and the Gonzaga men's squads are looking for strong performances Friday in order to ensure a return trip to the national championships, which will be contested in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Saturday November 19th.

Washington looks to extend its 15 straight seasons of qualifying a women's team to nationals, while the men look to qualify for the national championships for the sixth consecutive season.

Gonzaga looks to extend its streak of qualifying for the national championships to three.

After bouncing back to finish second at the West Coast Conference championships, Gonzaga put themselves back in the USTFCCCA national rankings at number 26 after being ranked as high as number 12 earlier in the season.

The Zags dropped out of the national rankings after finishing 26th at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin, where Yacine Guermali had a bad race, and were still missing team leader and cross country All-American James Mwaura from Tacoma.

Among the teams from the West Region who beat Gonzaga that day were Stanford (1st), Portland (11th), Oregon (12th), Washington (15th), and Boise State (24th).

At the West Coast Conference championship meet two weeks ago in Portland, the Bulldogs avenged their loss to Portland in finishing second behind BYU, which will be a factor when the NCAA cross country subcommittee meets after the conclusion of the nine regional meets around the country to select the 13 at-large teams to fill the field.

The top two teams from each of the nine regional meets Friday automatically qualify for the national championships, along with the top four individuals not on a qualifying team (must place in the top 25 for consideration) advance to the national championships next week. The complete field for the NCAA championships will be announced Saturday.

The cross country subcommittee decides who goes on to nationals based on a complex formula that takes into account strength of regular season schedule, conference and regional championship finish, as well as what teams you beat during the countable period.

That formula is essentially why teams travel to big invitational meets during the regular season to compete against other teams with NCAA championship meet aspirations.

Washington, led by All-American Brian Fay, is starting to round into form after finishing third at the Pac-12s behind Stanford and Colorado. At the Pac-12s, they avenged a loss at Wisconsin to Oregon, who finished fourth.

In the men's team race, while teams like Stanford, the number one team in the country, Washington, Oregon, Portland and Gonzaga are known quantities in the West Region, the one wild card in the field is number 25 Cal Baptist, a former Division II powerhouse, who is eligible to compete for a berth in the national championship after their probation period ended when they moved up to Division I.

Cal Baptist was second at the Weis-Crockett Invitational in Stillwater, Oklahoma behind Montana State the day after Nuttycombe, and second behind Wisconsin at the Roy Griak Invitational.

The women's team race figures to be a tight battle on paper between number 10 Oregon, number 11 Stanford, number 14 Cal Baptist, and the 16th ranked Huskies, with possibly Oregon State also in the mix.

At the Pac-12s, Oregon was third with 86 points, followed by Stanford at 93, and the Huskies one point behind.  

Washington State, Eastern Washington and Seattle University are also scheduled to send teams to Sacramento. The Cougar men are ranked number 12 in the West Region, while the women are ranked number 8. The Gonzaga women, which was nationally ranked until they stumbled badly at the Nuttycombe Invitational, are ranked number 11 in the West Region.

Gonzaga's Kristen Garcia is looking to qualify for her third straight NCAA championship meet as an individual, and fourth career appearance, after running in the national title meet as a freshman while at Wisconsin.

The home page for the NCAA West Regionals, which includes a course map, the start lists, and the live results is available here.

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

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