Woodinville native Olivia Markezich earns second career top-10 finish at NCAA XC champs...
In Charlottesville, Woodinville native Olivia Markezich (Mike Scott photo) of Notre Dame, who cracked the top ten in 2022, finished third at the NCAA Division I Cross Country championships at Panorama Farms Saturday morning, hosted by the University of Virginia.
Markezich, eighth at last year's championship, latched herself onto the lead pack from the start, and maintained her position throughout the course of the 6k race, to finish in a time of 19:10, 14 seconds behind winner Parker Valby of the University of Florida.
Former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell of Oregon State finished 12th in 19:35, three seconds ahead of Gonzaga's Rosina Machu, who crossed the line in 16th.
Machu became the first Zag to earn All-America honors since 1996 when Francesca Fairbanks was 14th at the 1996 championships in Tucson.
Lake Stevens native Taylor Roe of Oklahoma State finished 34th in 20:05, one second and one place ahead of former Husky Andrea Markezich, now a grad student at Notre Dame to get under the top 40 that get All-America honors.
The Washington Huskies earned its best national finish since the 2011 season this morning, running to eighth-place with a huge final kilometer surge, moving from 14th to eighth in the final kilometer to cap off a terrific 2023 season that included a Pac-12 team title.
The Dawgs were led by Chloe Foerster in 47th in 20:10. Sophie O'Sullivan, who was in All-America position through the first half of the race, finished 56th in 20:17, and Julia David-Smith was 58th, one second behind.
Rounding out the scorers for Washington were Ella Borsheim in 119th at 20:49, and India Weir in 140th in 20:57.
Naomi Smith (189th, 21:24), and Tori Herman (210th, 21:42) were the final two finishers for the Huskies.
Former Husky Sarah Carter of Colorado State finished 195th in 21:29.
"Sophie, Chloe and Julia were fantastic. They were together most of the race. They were the difference in us going from 14th to 8th. The race plan was to really run well over the last 1,000 and run the last 200 like a track race," said UW director of track/XC Maurica Powell.
NC State won its third-straight team championship with 123 points, followed by Northern Arizona with 124, and Oklahoma State with 156. Notre Dame with the Markezich twins got the final podium position in fourth with 237 points.
In the men's 10k race, Nuttycombe winner Graham Blanks of Harvard took the individual title, running 28:38, using the same strategy of moving late that he did to win in Wisconsin last month.
Walla Walla native and NCAA steeplechase champ Kenneth Rooks of BYU (Mike Scott photo), who was a finalist in that event at the Budapest world championships this summer, finished 35th to get under the All-America cutoff.
Rooks ran 29:43 in his first NCAA cross country appearance for BYU, as the Cougars finished a solid third with 196 points.
Rob McManus of Cashmere and Montana State was 165th in 31:14.
Oklahoma State, coached by Olympia native Dave Smith, won the national title with 49 points over defending national champ Northern Arizona's 71. After BYU's third with 196, Arkansas was fourth with 211 for the final podium position.
It was a tough ending for the Gonzaga Bulldogs, who finished 28th in the field with 647 points, after taking second in the West regionals last week, ahead of Portland and Cal Baptist.
Wil Smith was in All-America position for the first half of the race, but faded to 111th in 30:39. He was followed by Bryce Cerkowniak in 120th in 30:44, then Michael Maiorano in 149th at 31:04.
Logan Law was 191st in 31:38, and Cooper Laird was the final scorer in 213th at 32:04. Paul Talens was their final finisher in 214th at 32:07, while Drew Kolodge didn't finish.
Cal Baptist was 16th with 430, while Portland was 23rd at 529.
The page turns to the indoor track season, which opens in two weeks. Both Gonzaga and Washington are projected to send individuals to Boston for the Sharon Colyear-Danville season opener at Boston University on December 2nd, while another group will open the following weekend at the Spokane Invitational at The Podium.
DIVISION II RECAP
Correa was in All-America position for the majority of the race, moving from the mid-20s early in the race to ultimately finish 17th in the 10k race in a time of 29:51 to become the first All American in cross country since Central Washington entered the NCAA Division II ranks.
After the race, Correa said that the plan was to stay strong and finish hard over the last kilometer.
Correa, the NCAA West Regional champ, made his move over the last two kilometers, going from 23rd at 8k to 16th with a kilometer to go with a group of four alongside him.
Despite losing one place over the last kilo, he was happy with his finish, noting that he and Central Washington coach Jonathan Hill talked about finishing strong over the last part of the race.
"I pretty much finished close to empty," he said.
William Amponsah of West Texas A&M was the individual champion in a time of 29:05.
The Western Washington men finished 19th with a final team score of 538 points, as Wingate took the national title with 77 points, overcoming a rally from defending champion Colorado School of Mines, who were second with 87 points.
East Central was third with 108 points, and West Texas A&M got the final podium spot with 142 points.
Junior Ryan Clough led Western’s strong contingent placing 73rd completing the 10K Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course in 30:52. Senior Andrew Oslin finished 88th in 31:00 and junior Kevin McDermott was also in the top 100 in the field of 263 racers in 31:03.
Jeret Gillingham was 146th in 31:40, and Jalen Javurek completed the Viking scorers in 153rd in 31:47.
Will Henry was 158th in 31:50, while Jason Blinn was 253rd in 34:01.
In the opening women's 6k race, Saint Martin's Cassidy Walchak-Sloan (photo courtesy SMU Athletics) raced to a 27th place finish to earn All America honors.
Walchak-Sloan completed the course in 20:35 to earn the school's first All-America honors since Shannon Porter finished 24th in 2016.
After the race, Saint Martin's coach Matt Lowe said, "I'm having a hard time describing what she's done this season. This season, Cassidy really invested her time in shutting out the noise and getting the work done."
"She exceeded my expectations. One thing that I've found is that she really knows how to race," as witnessed by the fact that she was 48th at the 1K mark, then worked her way into All-America position.
"I told her to stay steady through the uphill portion of the race, and take advantage of the downhills. I'd say that she went out with pure guts, and it was a proud moment for me, especially with her moving 16 spots in the fifth kilometer, and 13 more over the last K."
Walchak-Sloan ran 3:15 over the last kilometer, her fastest of the entire race.
Reeck's finish is the highest at the national championships since Taylor Guenther finished 26th in 2015 on the same Joplin course.
Behind Reeck were Ila Davis in 53rd in 20:57, Mia Crocker in 109th at 21:44, Emma Smith in 133rd at 21:56, and Sophie Wright in 175th at 22:16.
Marian Ledesma in 187th at 22:24, and Meaera Nystrom in 193rd at 22:27 were the final Viking finishers.
Ferndale native Jaclyn Denham of Chico State was 179th in 22:17.
Grand Valley State won its eighth NCAA team title with 59 points, followed by perennial national powers Adams State (86), Colorado School of Mines (121), and Western Colorado (150). Lindsay Cunningham won the individual title in a time of 19:31.
NOTE: The NCAA, the USTFCCCA, and the sports information offices of Gonzaga Washington, Western Washington, Saint Martin's, Central Washington, Notre Dame, BYU, Oklahoma State, Montana State, and Chico State contributed to this report.
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