Zag women win Arturo Barrios Invitational; Dawgs & Cougs at Pre-Nats; Redhawks, Eags, Zags all racing...
The penultimate weekend of the regular season for Washington's five NCAA Division I cross country teams began with a bang Friday morning in College Station, Texas, as the number 18 Gonzaga women's team won the Arturo Barrios Invitational hosted by Texas A&M at the Watts Cross Country Course.
All-American Rosina Machu led the way for the Zags with her fourth place finish, covering the 6k course in 19:10.
Following Machu was former Gonzaga soccer player Willow Collins (Paul Merca photo), competing in her second collegiate cross country meet. Collins finished tenth in 19:37.
True freshman Logan Hofstee was third across the line for the Zags in 17th in 19:49, followed closely by Jessica Frydenlund in 21st at 19:59, and Jade Rypkema one place behind in 20:00, to give Gonzaga a 1-5 split of 50 seconds, 30 seconds better than their split at Nuttycombe three weeks ago.
Gonzaga finished atop the team leaderboard with 74 team points. Behind them was fellow West Region foe Boise State (2nd, 133), who is receiving votes in the USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll, Georgia Tech (3rd, 143), and Colorado (4th, 189).
Juliet Cherubet of Texas Tech won the race in 18:37, ahead of Leah Jeruto of Oklahoma's 19:01, and Judy Chepkoech of Arizona State at 19:07.
WASHINGTON & WASHINGTON STATE OFF TO WISCONSIN FOR SATURDAY'S PRE NATIONALS...
The University of Washington and Washington State University cross country teams are off to Verona, Wisconsin for Saturday's Wisconsin Pre-Nationals at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course outside Madison, hosted by the University of Wisconsin.
In every other year, Wisconsin hosts the Nuttycombe Invitational this weekend, but because the Badgers are the host school for the NCAA cross country championships in November, they moved the Nuttycombe to late September.
For the Huskies, this is their second trip to Verona. At the Nuttycombe meet three weeks ago, the Washington women, currently ranked number 3 in the USTFCCCA coaches' poll, won the meet with 110 points, led by Penn transfer Maeve Stiles' eighth place finish in 20:17 over 6k.
The men, currently ranked 13th, finished fifth behind BYU, Iowa State, Wake Forest & North Carolina. They were led by Tyrone Gorze, who was 27th in 23:59 over 8k.
At the Pre-Nationals, the number 3 Washington women will face 19 other teams ranked in the national top 30, and are in a field that has the five top teams in the coaches poll, including (in order), Northern Arizona, BYU, Notre Dame, and NC State.
The Huskies will have in their arsenal Paris Olympian Sophie O'Sullivan, who sat out the Nuttycombe after her summer of racing following the collegiate season.
The men face 18 other teams in the national top 30, led by number 3 Arkansas. However, according to Washington's preview release that was posted Friday afternoon, the Huskies are holding out the top four finishers from the Nuttycombe race: Gorze, Leo Daschbach, Nathan Green and Evan Jenkins.
Both Washington squads are racing in the A section, with the women's 6k starting at 8 am Pacific, and the men's 8k underway at 8:40 am Pacific.
Because the A section is seeded with priority to nationally ranked teams, both Washington State squads are running in the B section, with the women's 6k at 10:40 am Pacific, and the men's 8k the final race of the day at 11:20 am Pacific.
This takes away an opportunity for Washington State's Evans Kurui to race a stacked field in the A section that includes defending NCAA champ Graham Blanks of Harvard, Northern Arizona's Nico Young, New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel, Stanford’s Ky Robinson, as well as Arkansas’ Kirami Yego and Patrick Kiprop, Iowa State’s Robin Kwemoi Bera, NAU’s David Mullarkey and Tulane’s Bernard Cheruiyot.
In the B section, Kurui may have to race the clock, but will at least know beforehand how fast the top runners in the A section ran.
Race temperatures are expected to be in the low to mid 60s Saturday.
Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) and Big Ten+ ($) will stream the meet starting at 7:45 am, Pacific.
WHERE SEATTLE U, EASTERN, GONZAGA & WSU ARE SATURDAY...
Seattle University heads off to Sunnyvale, California for the Santa Clara University Bronco Invitational at Baylands Park Saturday morning.
The men's 8k invitational race begins at 8:45 am, with the women's 6k underway at 9:30 am.
Eastern Washington, along with Gonzaga and Washington State, will have runners competing at the Lewis & Clark State Invitational in Lewiston, Idaho Saturday.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Gonzaga, Washington, Washington State, Eastern Washington, SeattleU, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Santa Clara, Lewis & Clark State, and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.
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