The NCAA D1/D2 cross country championship preview with a Washington twist...
The 2023 collegiate cross country season ends Saturday with the NCAA Division I cross country championships in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Division II championship meet in Joplin, Missouri.
Saturday morning begins with the Division I championships at Panorama Farms just outside Charlottesville, hosted by the University of Virginia. The women's 6k race kicks off action at 7:20 am Pacific/10:20 am local time, with the men's 10k starting at 8:10 am Pacific/11:10 am local time.
ESPNU and the ESPN app will have live coverage of the championship, starting at 7 am Pacific, with John Anderson, Carrie Tollefson and Kyle Merber calling the action.
The Division II championship meet from the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course will be streamed on NCAA.com, with the women's 6k starting at 8 am Pacific/10 am local time and the men's 10k going at 9:15 am Pacific/11:15 am local time.
Here's our preview of both the Division I and II championship races:
DIVISION I--Women
O'Sullivan makes her third straight career appearance at the NCAA championship meet. In 2021, she finished 244th, then improved to 73rd last year.
After a stellar summer that saw her break UW school records in the 1500 and 3000, O'Sullivan went straight to cross country mode, leading the Huskies at the Virginia Invitational in September on the national championship course, where she was 15th, and the Pac-12 championships where she was sixth.
Chloe Forster is the Huskies' other team leader with O'Sullivan, finishing first for the Dawgs at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Wisconsin, where she was 40th overall, and at the NCAA West Regional race, where she was 13th.
Gonzaga's Rosina Machu, the West Coast Conference champion, was among the leaders for most of the race at the NCAA regionals last week in Sacramento before crossing the line in fourth place.
Notre Dame's Markezich twins from Woodinville, Olivia & Andrea, look to help the Irish move up from their seventh place finish last year.
Olivia, the reigning NCAA steeplechase champion, was eighth at last year's cross country championship meet, after finishing 11th in 2021. Sister Andrea, a grad transfer from the University of Washington, was 205th in the spring 2021 championships, and 134th last year. Andrea was ninth last week at the NCAA Great Lakes regional race, won by Olivia.
In three career appearances at the NCAA cross country championships, Lake Stevens native Taylor Roe of Oklahoma State has finished second, fifth, and 13th, while helping the Cowgirls to a fourth place podium finish at last year's meet.
Oklahoma State, which is coached by Olympia native Dave Smith, is currently ranked fourth in the USTFCCCA D1 women's rankings going into the national championships.
Former Husky Sarah Carter of Colorado State makes her third appearance at the NCAA cross country championships, having finished 221st in spring 2021, and 43rd last year, three spots outside All-America honors.
D1 MEN
Despite winning its first ever West Coast Conference cross country championship meet, most so-called college cross country experts considered Gonzaga as a borderline pick to get into the NCAA championship meet, based on a tough West region that included the top three teams in the Pac-12--Stanford, Washington, and Oregon, Boise State out of the Mountain West, and the country's number 5 team, Cal Baptist.
The Zags left no doubt that they belonged in the national championships, storming to a second place finish last week in Sacramento behind Stanford. In the process, they earned their fourth straight team appearance, and towed Portland to a third place finish ahead of Cal Baptist, leaving fifth place Washington as the odd team out of the West Region.
Wil Smith (Paul Merca photo) is the lead Bulldog, as he makes his fourth appearance at the national championship meet, having finished 217th in spring 2021, 241st in fall 2021, and 59th last fall.
Smith is coming off a regular season campaign that saw him finish first in every race for the Zags, highlighted by a second place finish at the Roy Griak meet in Minnesota, a ninth place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Wisconsin, a third place finish at the West Coast Conference meet, and a sixth place finish last week at the NCAA West Regionals in Sacramento.
The Zags, who are currently ranked number 20 in the final regular season D1 poll, look to improve upon their 13th place team finish, which was the highest in school history.
Individuals with Washington ties entered in the meet Saturday include NCAA steeplechase champ Kenneth Rooks of third ranked BYU and Walla Walla; Yakima native Jonas Price of second ranked Oklahoma State; and 29th ranked Montana State duo of Rob McManus from Cashmere, and Ben Saelens of Seattle's Nathan Hale HS.
Rooks, who was a steeple finalist at the world championships in Budapest this summer, makes his first appearance at the NCAA championships for the Cougars. Price, who was ninth at the Big 12, was 186th in the spring 2021 championships. McManus was 242nd at last year's NCAA, while Saelens makes his NCAA championship debut.
Price did not run at the regional meet last week, so he may or may not be on Oklahoma State's final roster. McManus and Saelens are on Montana State's entry list, but the school doesn't have to declare its final entries until race day.
DIVISION II
Since joining the NCAA in 1999, both the WWU men's and women's cross country teams have qualified for nationals, marking the ninth time in program history both teams are headed to the final meet.
The 15th ranked Viking men's squad will go into Joplin led by GNAC champion Kevin McDermott. McDermott was their number one runner at the Bill Roe Invitational, where he was fourth, the Lewis Crossover in Illinois, where he finished 12th, and the GNAC championship meet.
At the NCAA regionals in Monmouth, Oregon two weeks ago, Andrew Oslin led the way for Western Washington with his third place finish.
McDermott makes his second NCAA appearance, having finished 163rd last year at Chambers Creek in University Place, while Oslin, makes his second appearance at nationals, finishing 65th last year.
On the women's side, Ashley Reeck, who has led the way for the 11th ranked Vikings in every race this season, will be the one to watch.
After winning her first two races this season, Reeck was eighth at the Bill Roe Invitational, 18th at the Lewis Crossover, fourth at the GNACs, and fifth at the NCAA West Regionals.
At the regionals, Reeck led all five Vikings scorers inside the top 30 to lead the team to its first ever NCAA West Regional championship in program history, eclipsing their previous top finish of second in 2015.
No Vikings have NCAA cross country championship appearances, though Marian Ledesma and Ila Davis have run in the NCAA track & field championships.
The three individuals with Washington ties competing in the D2 nationals are NCAA West Regional men's champion Johan Correa of Central Washington, Cassidy Walchak-Sloan of Saint Martin's, and Ferndale native Jaclyn Denham of Chico State.
Correa enters the national championship meet having only lost once this season at the GNAC championship in Anchorage, where he finished second.
The last time Central Washington had an individual qualify for the national championships was in 2007 when Sam Scotchmer finished 80th, also in Joplin, Missouri.
Walchak-Sloan is the second straight individual from Saint Martin's to qualify for the national championship meet, as Alauna Carstens finished 74th last year at Chambers Creek.
A top 40 finish for Walchak-Sloan would make her the first Saint to earn All-America honors since Shannon Porter turned the trick in 2016 with her 24th place finish.
Denham was 36th at the NCAA West regionals for Chico State, which is ranked 17th in the D2 coaches' poll entering the national championships. She does have one previous appearance at the NCAA cross country championships, finishing 199th in 2021.
NOTE: The NCAA, the USTFCCCA, and the sports information offices of Gonzaga Washington, Western Washington, Saint Martin's, Central Washington, Notre Dame, BYU, Colorado State, Oklahoma State, Montana State, and Chico State contributed to this report.
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