Kurui cruises to course record in winning NCAA West Regional 10k title, while Huskies take men's team title...
COLFAX--As a great American philosopher once said, "Homey don't play dat!"
That was the modus operandi of Washington State freshman Evans Kurui (Paul Merca photo), as the West Coast Conference champion didn't mess around, taking command of the men's 10k race from the gun, and raced home to a comfortable 15 second victory, crossing the line in a course record 28:54, with Portland's Matt Strangio taking second in 29:09.
At the 2k mark, Kurui had a nine second lead over Arizona's Gideon Mengich, who had a four second lead over the rest of the field.
Kurui extended his lead to 22 seconds at the halfway mark, going through the 5k at 14:20, while Mengich stayed 4 seconds ahead of the peloton at 14:41.
In the team race at the halfway mark, Stanford and Oregon were in front at 58 & 92 points, while Gonzaga and Washington were battling for positions 3 and 4 at 108 and 110.
With one lap to go, Kurui's lead extended to 29 seconds with Gonzaga's Wil Smith now in front of the chase group leading eight other runners.
On the final lap, Kurui essentially cruised home, losing nearly half of his lead to take the win in 28:54.
"We wanted Evans to finish comfortably," said Washington State head coach Wayne Phipps.
Phipps said that the goal was to run kilometers of 2:54, which would translate to 29:00.
Washington's Nathan Green chased down six runners on the final lap to move to seventh in 29:12, just behind Gonzaga's Wil Smith in sixth in the same time.
Washington's Evan Jenkins finished ninth in 29:15.
The Huskies' Tyrone Gorze (29:22) and Leo Daschbach (29:24) were 14th and 15th, and Jamar Distel in 22nd (29:33) rounded out the five scorers.
On the penultimate lap, Washington had a two point lead over Stanford at 69-71 with Oregon in third.
The Huskies hung on to take the team title with 66 points, with Oregon taking second at 68 points, while Stanford dropped to a close third with 73 points.
Gonzaga finished sixth with 135, while Washington State was ninth with 244 points.
Eastern Washington was 17th with 534 points, while Seattle University was 30th in the 31-team field with 859 points.
WOMEN'S RECAP
The women's 6k race field stayed fairly tight, with Arizona State's Judy Chepkoech taking the front, leading at 3k in 9:49, with Gonzaga's Rosina Machu in tenth, one second behind.
At that point, Stanford's Amy Bunnage took command, going through the second of three laps in 13:42, but not able to break away.
On the final lap, Bunnage kept the lead, with Oregon's Silan Ayyildiz and Maddy Elmore in hot pursuit.
Bunnage hung on for the win in a course record 19:18, with Ayyildiz second in 19:20, and Elmore third in 19:24.
Machu moved to fourth, finishing in 19:35, while Washington State's Zenah Cheptoo tenth in 19:47.
Oregon won the meet with 43 points, with Stanford taking second with 67 points.
The Huskies finished third with 101 points, led by Maeve Stiles in 14th at 19:50.
Behind Stiles was Julia David-Smith in 17th at 19:54, Chloe Foerster in 19th at 20:01, India Weir in 23rd at 20:11, and Sophie O'Sullivan in 33rd in 20:28.
Gonzaga was fourth with 134 points. Behind Machu were Willow Collins in 21st at 20:06, Jessica Frydenlund in 32nd at 20:27, Logan Hofstee in 37th at 20:32, and Anna Grabowski rounded out the Zag scorers in 44th at 20:36.
Washington State was seventh at 169 points, with Seattle University 17th at 522 points, and Eastern Washington 21st with 584 points.
NOTE: The NCAA, and the sports information offices of Seattle University, Gonzaga University, Eastern Washington, the University of Washington and Washington State University contributed to this report.
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