2024 Cross Country Preview: Gonzaga University...

After a few years away from previewing the state's nine NCAA Division I and II cross country teams due to our emphasis on the late summer pro competitions, paulmerca.blogspot.com is posting another in a series of snapshots of the state's teams.

We move across the Cascades to preview Gonzaga University. Like Washington, the Zags have expectations for the coming season, as evidenced by both squads ranked in the national top 30 in the USTFCCCA pre-season Division I coaches poll released on Tuesday. 

After several seasons of being close, long time coach Pat Tyson's Gonzaga men's team (Paul Merca photo) finally won its first West Coast Conference team title, prevailing over long time conference powerhouse Portland by a 44-56 count, en route to qualifying for the NCAA championships for the fourth straight season.

Unfortunately, Gonzaga underperformed at the national championships, finishing 28th in the 31-team field.

From their NCAA championship team, the Zags, who are ranked number 30 in the USTFCCCA D1 pre-season coaches poll, return all seven runners, led by NCAA and US Olympic Trials track qualifier Wil Smith (111th), Bryce Cerkowniak (120th), Michael Maiorano (149th), Logan Law (191st), Cooper Laird (213th), Paul Talens (214th), and Drew Kolodge (DNF).

Gonzaga is a co-favorite along with Portland, the country's number 16 ranked team, in the WCC coaches' poll.

The Zags did not dip into the transfer portal, as their six newcomers: Hayden Roberts (Ephrata), Noah Laughlin-Hall (Bend, Oregon), Noah McMahan (Incline, Nevada), Logan Schwartz (Salem, Oregon), Caden Swanson (Portland, Oregon) and Charlie Goss (Boise, Idaho) are all true freshmen. 

Nick Braz, a redshirt senior from New Hampshire who broke through and ran 29:27.68 for 10000 last spring, could factor into the Gonzaga top seven down the stretch.

With their top seven all returning, the challenge for the Gonzaga men is to find a solid two or three men from that group to run with Wil Smith, especially late in the season when it comes time for the NCAA regionals, which will be 60 miles south of Spokane in Colfax. The Zags must get past the likes of Stanford, Portland, Oregon, and Washington, who are still smarting from missing nationals.

All American Rosina Machu (Paul Merca photo) leads the Bulldog women again this season, as they look to get over the hump and return to the NCAA championships as a team for the first time since 2015.

Machu finished 16th at the NCAA championships to become the first Zag to earn All-America honors since 1996 when Francesca Fairbanks was 14th at the 1996 championships in Tucson.

Last year, Machu won the WCC title, and was fourth at the NCAA West Regional meet in Sacramento.

The Zags, who are ranked number 25 in the USTFCCCA D1 women's coaches poll, return Sadie Tuckwood (18th), Jessica Frydenlund (36th), Alexi Fogo (88th), and Anna Grabowski (95th) from the team that finished fifth at the NCAA West Regionals.

Gonzaga is the clear favorite to win the WCC team title, according to the coaches' pre-season poll.

Their top additions include Willow Collins, who ran 15:53,41 for 5000 meters last spring, after playing on the Gonzaga soccer team the last three seasons, along with freshmen Keira Saavedra from Portland, and Spokane Valley native Logan Hofstee, the two time Washington 2A cross country champ from East Valley HS.

Hofstee was the 2023 Washington Gatorade high school runner of the year after finishing ninth at the Nike Cross Nationals.

The biggest questions concerning the Gonzaga women's team are the same as the men's team: can someone step up and run behind Machu, and whether or not they can collectively put themselves in the mix to return to the national championships in a region that has potentially two teams with podium aspirations in Oregon and Washington, along with Stanford and Cal Baptist?

Both Gonzaga squads will stay together for the first month, running this Friday at the Clash of the Inland Northwest in Cheney. They'll go to Colfax for the Cougar Classic and a peek at the NCAA West Regionals course on September 13th, before heading to Madison, Wisconsin for the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational two weeks later. 

The men head to Springfield, Oregon for the Bill Dellinger Invitational, hosted by the University of Oregon on October 11th, while the women head to College Station, Texas for the Arturo Barrios Invitational hosted by Texas A&M the next day.

Gonzaga will give their younger runners experience racing in three meets close to home during the season--the Whitman Invitational on October 5th; the Inland Empire Classic on October 19th; and the Sasquatch Open on October 25th.

Championship season begins on Saturday November 2nd at the WCC Championships in Lodi, California, hosted by the University of the Pacific, before a return trip to Colfax on the 15th with a return trip to Madison, Wisconsin on the line for the national championships.

NOTE: The sports information department at Gonzaga University and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.

paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links. You can also support the site by clicking the yellow "Buy Me A Coffee" link below.