Gonzaga men & Zags' Rosina Machu earn auto qualifiers to NCAA cross country champs...
SACRAMENTO—After a strong performance in Minnesota last month, the Gonzaga Bulldogs (Paul Merca photo) appeared to be on their way to a strong season, with expectations of winning their first West Coast Conference title after years of getting beat by Portland and Brigham Young.
With BYU's move to the Big 12, the path to winning the WCC became easier, but along the way to winning the conference crown two weeks ago in Malibu, the Zags pulled a clunker at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin.
Under wet and miserable conditions, the Zags, who entering the Nuttycombe, were rated 23rd, dropped out of the national top 30, after finishing 26th, significantly worse than projected.
Gonzaga had a bounce back performance two weeks ago in winning the WCC, but didn't get the respect of the coaches voting in the national poll, as they were outside the top 30.
Friday's performance at the NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships at Haggin Oaks Golf Course left no doubt that they are one of the nation's top 30 teams, as the Zags earned an automatic berth to next week's national championships in Charlottesville, Virginia as they finished second for the second straight year, scoring 98 points behind Pac-12 champ Stanford's 73 points.
The Cardinal were led by individual champion Ky Robinson, who won in a time of 28:56 for the 10k distance.
In the process, the unranked Bulldogs knocked off three ranked teams including fourth-ranked Cal Baptist.
Wil Smith led the way for the Zags with a sixth place individual finish. After a fourth place finish at last year's West Regional, Smith finished in 29:15 over the 10k course.
Drew Kolodge (12th, 29:26) and Bryce Cerkowniak (15th, 29:34) earned crucial Top 15 placements to aid in Gonzaga's point scoring.
Michael Maiorano (29:51) placed 28th. Maiorano jumped up five spots in the final half-mile. Cooper Laird was next at 37th with a time of 30:03. Logan Law cracked the Top 50 with a 48th-place, 30:18 finish, and Paul Talens finished 59th (30:32) to round out Gonzaga's seven participants.
Behind the Zags reigned chaos, as WCC runner-up and unranked Portland finished third on a tiebreaker over Cal Baptist with 125 points each. CBU was ranked number 4 in the nation after strong performances in their previous three meets, including the Nuttycombe, where they finished fourth.
The team that will probably end up on the outside looking in when the at-large selections Saturday afternoon at 2 pm Pacific time are the Washington Huskies, who finished fifth with 129 points.
Nathan Green, who took third at Pac-12s in just his second collegiate cross country race, impressed again today in his first ever 10k. He moved up fourteen places in the second half to lead the Huskies in 17th-place in a time of 29:40.
Sophomore Evan Jenkins was just a second behind in 29:41 for 19th-place and Jamar Distel, who ran at the front of the pack early, was 21st a second back. Luke Houser was 25th in a time of 29:48. Joe Waskom capped the scoring in 47th-place in 30:16.
"Nothing's official yet but projections seem to have us a first team out," said Head Coach Andy Powell. "We'll wait and hope but it's certainly disappointing when you're four points away from almost certainly making it, maybe half a second a person. I think the guys fought hard. If we don't make it, there's still a lot of positives. Our top three from today are all underclassmen in cross and all ran well today."
If the Huskies don't see their name on Saturday, it would snap a run of six-straight NCAA appearances, and it would be just the second time Powell has not brought his squad to the final race. The other time was in 2011 at Oregon.
Washington State finished 13th with 382 points, led by Brian Barsaiya, who finished 36th in 30:02.
Eastern Washington was 25th with 630 points, led by Cam McChesney, who finished 108th in 31:25.
Seattle University was 28th of 29 full teams with 789 points, with Yonas Sauers leading the way in 31:09.
WOMEN'S RECAP
In the day's first race, Gonzaga's Rosina Machu (Paul Merca photo), who won the West Coast Conference individual title two weeks ago, was not afraid to mix it up with the top guns in the West, leading through the first mile of the 6k race in 5:08, with a group of five right next to her.
With just over 2000 meters to go, it was down to a group of four, including defending regional champion and former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell of Oregon State.
Mitchell pulled away to take the win in 19:09, with Machu finishing fourth in 19:16 to help the Zags to a fifth place finish with 173 points.
The Pac-12 champion Washington Huskies, who entered the day ranked number 8 in the country, knew that a top three finish would all but seal the deal to earn a 17th consecutive trip to the NCAA championships, ran a conservative team race Friday, as they finished third with 115 points, behind team champion Stanford's 77 points, and Oregon's second place finish with 109 points.
The Dawgs were led by Chloe Foerster who placed 13th in 19:47. Sophie O'Sullivan was 17th in 19:59, then India Weir was 20th in 20:02. Julia David-Smith was 25th in 20:07. Tori Herman rounded out the five scorers in 40th in 20:31.
"I'm grateful and happy that we were able to get the job done and set ourselves up to take a big swing next weekend," said Pac-12 Coach of the Year Maurica Powell. "We have eight days now to get everyone feeling as close to 100-percent as we can. I'm pleased with our toughness and how we played the cards we had today."
Gonzaga, which was ranked at one point in the season number 27 in the nation, finished fifth with 173 points, and will probably not get in as a team to the national championships when the at-large entries are announced Saturday.
Behind Machu's fourth place finish, which assures her of an individual qualifying berth to the national championships in Virginia next week, Sadie Tuckwood was 18th in 20:02. Following her were Jessica Frydenlund in 36th at 20:29, and Alicia Anderson in 51st at 20:38. Brittney Hansen was the final scorer for the Zags in 64th at 20:44.
Washington State was 13th with 408 points, led by Neema Kimtai, who was 32nd in 20:24.
In a close battle, Seattle University was 25th with 720 points, led by Azalea Groleau in 70th in 20:48. Rounding out Washington's five Division I schools was Eastern Washington, who was 26th with 726 points.
The Eagles were led by Lilly Fetzer, who was 112th in 21:20.
After analyzing the results of the nine regional championships around the country contested Friday, the NCAA will announce the 13 at-large men's and women's teams Saturday at 2 pm Pacific time on a webcast streamed at NCAA.com.
NOTE: The NCAA, and the sports information offices of Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, SeattleU, Washington, and Washington State contributed to this report.
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