Olivia Markezich, Taylor Roe, Kaylee Mitchell & Brian Fay earn All-America spots; Zags make history...
STILLWATER, Oklahoma--Notre Dame's Olivia Markezich (Mike Scott photo) from the Bear Creek School in Woodinville, earned a top ten finish at the NCAA D1 Cross Country Championships at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course to earn herself another All-America honor.
Markezich, who won the Great Lakes regional race last week, went to the front from the start, then settled into the main pack.
Over the last kilometer, Markezich picked up seven places to get inside the top ten and finish eighth, three places better than her 11th place finish at last year's championship race in Tallahassee, Florida, clocking 19:47.
Lake Stevens native Taylor Roe of Oklahoma State, who was fifth last year, started slowly, as she was 67th at the first kilometer, then worked her way to 27th at the halfway point of the 6k race, before ultimately finishing 13th in 19:57
Former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell of Oregon State, who won last week's West Regional race at Chambers Creek Regional Park, finished 18th.
The 15th ranked University of Washington Huskies finished 17th with 470 points, led by Anna Gibson, who finished 63rd in 20:23.
Following Gibson was Sophie O'Sullivan in 73rd after going with the lead group over the first half of the race, as she crossed the line in 20:27.
Washington's other scorers were Andrea Markezich in 134th place at 20:50; Madison Heisterman in 147th at 20:54; and Naomi Smith in 158th at 20:59.
Defending national champion North Carolina State won the title with 114 points, led by overall winner Katelyn Tuohy, who reeled in Florida's Parker Valby to win the race in a time of 19:28 to Valby's 19:31.
Finishing behind NC State were New Mexico with 140, Alabama at 166, and host Oklahoma State with 201.
Other notables in the women's race included former Huskies Sarah Carter of Colorado State, who was 43rd in 20:15, and Shona McCullough of Syracuse, who finished 22st in 21:39.
FAY FINISHED 13TH IN MEN'S RACE...
In the men's 10k race, 2021 cross country All American Brian Fay (Mike Scott photo) of the Huskies improved upon his 38th place finish in last year's race, as he placed 13th in a time of 29:11.
The Irish internationalist's placing is the second highest by a Husky runner in school history, and the best since 1993 when Simon Baines was tenth.
From a team standpoint, the 15th ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs ran their way to a 13th place team finish with 400 points by going against the grain. The Zags collectively started slow and worked their way through the pack as the kilometers increased.
At the 2k mark, Gonzaga was in 29th of 31 teams in the field, with its top runner in 127th place.
Gonzaga was led by Yacine Guermali's 41st place finish in 29:37. Following him were Wil Smith in 59th at 29:51, then James Mwaura in 101st in 30:13, Cullen McEachern in 128th at 30:27, then Kyle Radosevich in 133rd at 30:28.
Afterwards, Gonzaga head coach Pat Tyson said, "We ran a conservative race, unlike a year ago where we ran an aggressive race and paid the price. You look at the results and you see who we beat and who is ranked way better than us. So I'm really, really proud. I think we maximized our team performance today.”
Guermali said afterwards, "Our plan was just to run super composed and finish strong and there was a lot of moving up in the results.
That's obviously my last race as a Zag — when I came in a lot of times we were 10th in the region. So 13th in the country is not too bad."
For Gonzaga, their 13th place finish is the highest in school history.
The 17th ranked Huskies, who finished third behind Gonzaga at last week's regionals in University Place, finished one position behind the Zags in 14th with 422 points.
Behind Brian Fay's 13th place finish in 29:11, Luke Houser was the next man across in 42nd at 29:38. Isaac Green was 104th in 30:14, followed by Joe Waskom in 164th at 30:45, then Ed Trippas in 168th at 30:46.
Stanford's Charles Hicks, who was third at last week's West Regionals, won the men's title, running 28:44.
Defending champion Northern Arizona, behind the 2-3 finish of Nico Young (28:45) and Drew Bosley (28:56) won the team title over host Oklahoma State, as both scored 83 points, with the Lumberjacks winning the head-to-head tiebreaker (1 vs 1, 2 vs 2 to 5 vs 5, unlike high school scoring where they compare the finish place of the 6th runner) by a 3-2 count.
West Coast Conference champ BYU was third with 132 points. Stanford, which went into the meet as the number 1 team in the country, finished fourth with 195.
WESTERN MEN TAKE SECOND AT WEST REGIONALS...
In Billings, Montana, the 17th ranked Western Washington Vikings earned a second place finish at the NCAA D2 West Regionals at Ament Park Saturday and an automatic berth into the NCAA Division II championships on December 2nd at Chambers Creek Regional Park.
The Vikings, who scored 82 points behind team champions Chico State's 48 points, were led by Jeret Gillingham, who finished 11th in 30:34 over the 10k course.
Following Gillingham were Andrew Olin in 14th at 30:37, Ryan Clough in 16th at 30:39, George Karamitsos in 18th at 30:40, and Kevin McDermott in 28th at 31:10, giving the Vikings a 1-5 split of 36 seconds.
Among the other three Washington D2 schools, Saint Martin's was 15th with 396 points, led by Isaac Cortes in 31st place at 31:19. Central Washington was 19th with 529 points, with Ty Savely leading the way in 70th at 32:16, and Seattle Pacific was 21st with 576 points, with Brennan LeBlanc their top runner in 74th at 32:24.
Charlie Dannatt of Simon Fraser was the individual winner in 30:08.
The women's 6k race saw Alauna Carstens of Saint Martin's finish seventh overall in a time of 21:26, as the Saints finished tenth overall with 248 points.
Teammate Cassidy Walchak-Sloan also finished inside the top 25, placing 15th in 21:41
Western Washington was the top Washington squad, finishing sixth with 220 points, led by Mia Crocker in 22nd place at 21:47.
Seattle Pacific was 20th with 494 points, led by Matise Mulch in 59th place at 22:38, and Central Washington finished 25th with 755 points, with Rosie Melville their top finisher in 140th at 24:24.
Naomi Bailey of Alaska Fairbanks, who won the NCAA Pre-Nationals last month at Chambers Creek, was the individual winner, running 20:54.
Carstens could possibly go to the national championship race as an at-large individual competitor.
The NCAA's announcement of all at-large teams and individuals will occur on Monday November 21st at 2 pm Pacific time.
SARAH PAQUET & RYAN STRACKE OF PACIFIC LUTHERAN RUN IN NCAA D3 CHAMPS...
At the NCAA Division III championships this Saturday in East Lansing, Michigan at the Forest Akers East Golf Course, Pacific Lutheran's Sarah Paquet and Ryan Stracke represented the school as individual competitors.
In the men's 8k, Stracke finished 105th in a time of 26:08, while in the women's 6k, Paquet was 58th in 23:02.
NOTE: The NCAA, USTFCCCA, Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and the sports information offices of Oklahoma State University, the University of Washington, Gonzaga University, and Pacific Lutheran University contributed to this report.
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