Washington's Brian Fay wins the West Regional crown, while the Zags lock up an auto qualifier...

UNIVERSITY PLACE--While conducting a sound check of the public address system at Chambers Creek Regional Park on Thursday, Washington's Brian Fay (photo courtesy Washington Athletics) grabbed the microphone from the meet public address announcer and belted out a few bars from the old Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons hit, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You".

While Fay's rendition was adequate given the audience running on the course, Fay had his eyes focused on the individual title at the NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships Friday at Chambers Creek Regional Park south of Tacoma.

On almost a perfect cool and overcast Pacific Northwest day, the Irish internationalist pulled away from a group of five runners on the final lap to become the third straight Husky to win the West Regional title, covering the 10k course in 28:18.

Fay was at or near the front for most of the race, but always within striking distance of the leader to cover any moves.

Entering the final lap, Gonzaga's Yacine Guermali took the lead from Stanford All-American Ky Robinson, as the front-running group was whittled down to seven runners. 

In the course of one kilometer, the group of three which included Charles Hicks of Stanford, Fay, and Oregon's Aaron Bienenfeld wrested the lead from Guermali to make it a three man drag race down the final straight.

As they entered the long, 400 meter straightaway to the finish, Fay turned on the jets and pulled away from Bienenfeld and Hicks to win in 28:18, with Bienenfeld second at 28:19, and Hicks third in 28:23.

Gonzaga's Wil Smith, who was at the tail end of the seven-man group, emerged as the top runner in the chase pack, finishing fourth in 28:26, while teammate Guermali faded to seventh in 28:29.

With his win, Fay follows Andrew Jordan (2019) and Kieran Lumb (2021) as the third straight Dawg to win the West individual crown. No Husky had won the individual title prior to 2019.

While Fay's victory was the highlight in the individual race, it was the performance of the Zags that was the highlight of the team race.

Kyle Radosevich finished 22nd in 28:57, followed by their All-American James Mwaura in 26th at 29:05, and Cullen McEachern rounded out the Bulldog quintet in 33rd in 29:11.

26th ranked Gonzaga, who was outside of the national top 30 after a bad performance a month ago at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Wisconsin against a bevy of nationally ranked teams, finished second overall with 92 points, just behind team champion Stanford.

The Cardinal, the nation's number one team, finished with a low score of 45 points.

With their second place finish, Gonzaga earned the final automatic qualifying position for next week's national championship meet in Stillwater, along with their third consecutive trip to nationals.

Besides Fay's victory, the 14th ranked Huskies placed one other runner in the top ten, as Luke Houser finished ninth in 28:38.

National 1500 meter champ Joe Waskom was the Huskies' third runner in 28th at 29:09, followed by Isaac Green in 32nd, and Leo Daschbach in 35th in 29:17.

The Huskies finished third with 105 points, ahead of Oregon's 141, and Cal Baptist's 145. 

Washington State finished 12th with 415 points with Brian Barsaiya leading the way in 39th at 29:21. Eastern Washington was 23rd in the 31 team field with 678 points, led by Noah Hasselblad in 84th at 30:11. Seattle University was 31st with 846 points, with Gus Harquail their top runner in 147th at 31:24.

Gig Harbor native Bradley Peloquin of the University of Portland finished 17th in 28:51, and is on the bubble for qualifying for nationals as an at-large individual.

FORMER FALCON KAYLEE MITCHELL WINS WOMEN'S TITLE, WHILE DAWGS TAKE THIRD...

Former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell, who transferred to Oregon State after one season, followed the same winning formula as Brian Fay in the men's race, to take the 6k title in 19:20.

Entering the third and final lap of the 2k loop, there were 20 runners within two seconds of leader Sophie O'Sullivan of the Huskies.

With 1000 meters to go, O'Sullivan dropped ten places, as Mitchell and Oregon State teammate Grace Fetherstonhaugh went to the front, with seven others still within striking distance.

In the final kilometer, Mitchell stepped on the accelerator and pulled away for the victory, finishing in 19:20, two seconds up on Portland's Laura Pellicoro's 19:22, and Stanford's Zofia Dudek in 19:26.

O'Sullivan hung on to finish ninth in 19:35 for the Huskies.

She was followed by Anna Gibson, who finished 13th in 19:39, with Andrea Markezich 27th at 19:56, Madison Heisterman in 29th at 19:58, and Naomi Smith in 36th at 20:01. Former Pac-12 champ and 10000-meter All American Haley Herberg, who was battling an injury for most of the season, was held out of the meet as a precaution, after running at the Pac-12s last week.

The 16th ranked Huskies' final score of 114 points was good for third place, just behind team champion and 11th ranked Stanford's 76 points, and runner up and tenth ranked Oregon's 96 points.

Gonzaga, which had high hopes entering the season of qualifying as a team to the national championships, finished seventh with 230 points, led by Kristen Garcia in 17th place at 19:45.

Garcia, who was looking to qualify for her fourth straight NCAA championship as an individual, is in danger of not making the national championship meet next week.

Washington State was 12th with 353 points, led by Alaina Stone Boggs in 14th at 19:39. Stone Boggs could be on the bubble to qualify as an at-large individual, pending the NCAA cross country subcommittee's decision on at-large teams.

Eastern Washington was 24th with 705 points, as Faith Martinez led the way in 123rd place at 21:16. Seattle University did not have a complete team; Azelea Groleau was the Redhawks' top runner in 118th at 21:14.

In the case of both Washington squads, a third place finish should get the Huskies an at-large berth in next week's national championship race, as there are six men's teams from the West region ranked in the national top 30, and four women's teams in the West. That of course, is dependent on the outcome of the other eight regionals contested around the country on Friday.

The NCAA cross country selection subcommittee will reveal the names of the 13 schools that will earn at-large bids to the NCAA championships during the NCAA selection show at 2 pm Saturday online at NCAA.com.

Complete results of the NCAA West Regionals are available here.

OTHER REGIONAL RESULTS INVOLVING WASHINGTON ATHLETES...

At the Great Lakes Regional meet in Warrenville, Illinois, Woodinville native Olivia Markezich ran to a four-second victory, as the Notre Dame junior ran 19:54. Markezich, whose twin sister Andrea runs for Washington, led the Irish to the team title, and an auto qualifier for next week, as they scored a low of 33 points to easily outdistance runner-up Ohio State's 111.

In Columbia, Missouri, Lake Stevens native Taylor Roe of Oklahoma State, finished third in the Midwest Regional, running 20:12, as Olivia Howell of Illinois won in 20:03. The Cowgirls easily won the team title with 58 points over second place Northwestern's 88 to get the automatic qualifier for next week's championships on their home course in Stillwater.

In the men's 10k race, Eisenhower HS/Yakima grad Jonas Price finished 17th in 29:58, as the Oklahoma State Cowboys finished second to cross-state rival Tulsa in a 49-49 tiebreaker. Price, who was Oklahoma State's sixth runner, will get an opportunity to race in the national championship on the Cowboys' home course in eight days.

The link to the USTFCCCA recap of the regionals, including links to the results, are available here.

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

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