Washington women remain in USTFCCCA D1 national top three after Big Tens...

NEW ORLEANS--With the conference championships in the rear view mirror, the Washington women's and men's cross country teams find themselves ranked number 3 and 12, respectively, in the latest USTFCCCA Division I national coaches' poll, released Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Gonzaga women's team, coming off their first West Coast Conference championship title since 2015, are ranked number 21 in this week's poll, down five from number 16.

At the Big Ten Conference meet last Friday in Savoy, Illinois, the Washington women finished second behind pre-season favorite Oregon, which entered the championship meet ranked number 17, despite not running most of their top runners over the early part of the season.

The Ducks, led by Silan Ayyildiz, who ran in her season debut, and Maddy Elmore, who raced for the second time this season, finished 1-2 in the race, and placed all five scorers in the top twelve to score a 33-60 victory over the Huskies.

In contrast, Washington put six runners inside the top 20, led by Chloe Foerster (Paul Merca photo) in sixth place, Julia David-Smith in ninth, and India Weir in tenth, but could not overcome the Ducks' two low sticks.

The nation's top five teams are in order: BYU, Oregon, Washington, Northern Arizona, and West Virginia.

The 21st ranked Zags, led by individual winner Rosina Machu, placed four runners in the top ten, and three more ahead of Portland's fifth scorer, to win their first West Coast Conference title since 2015. That 2015 season saw Gonzaga qualify as a team for the NCAA championships for the first time in school history.

Nationally ranked teams in the West Region include number 2 Oregon, number 3 Washington, number 12 Stanford, and number 21 Gonzaga.

Boise State and Portland received votes from the coaches, but not enough to crack the top 30.

In the men's poll, Washington, which finished second in the Big Tens to Wisconsin, which was ranked 11th heading into the conference championship meet, is ranked number 12, up six spots. The Dawgs were ranked number 18 before the Big Ten, after holding out their top five runners at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals two weeks earlier.

Nathan Green (#495/Paul Merca photo) led the way for the Huskies, with his third place finish, running 22:57 for the 8k distance.

The nation's top five teams are in order: BYU, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Iowa State, and Wake Forest.

Teams from the West Region in the national top 30 include number 7 Stanford, number 12 Washington, number 15 Oregon, number 16 Cal Baptist, and number 25 Portland.

Gonzaga received votes, but are outside the national top 30.

The NCAA West Regional championships will be contested Friday November 15th at the Colfax Golf Club, hosted by Washington State University.

The top two teams in each of the nine regional meets contested around the country automatically advance to the NCAA championships on November 23rd in Verona, Wisconsin, outside of Madison, hosted by the University of Wisconsin.

Thirteen additional teams will be added to the NCAA field based on a combination of regional placing and "Kolas points" accumulated prior to the regional championships.

The USTFCCCA women's release is available here, while the men's release is available here.

NOTE: The USTFCCCA and the sports information offices of Gonzaga University, and the University of Washington, contributed to this report.

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