WSU's Rosemary Longisa and Solomon Kipchoge sweep NCAA West Regional individual titles...
The West regional race was one of nine races held around the country. In each of the nine races, the top two teams earned automatic berths to next Saturday's NCAA championship race in Columbia, Missouri.
After the heavy rains hit the Sacramento area Thursday, there were questions on whether the course would drain sufficiently to make it sufficient for the field to traverse 6k for women, and 10k for the men.
With some help from the Haggin Oaks grounds crew and some cooperation from the weather gods, the course dried up to the delight of the 263 men and women who completed the two races.
WOMEN'S RECAP...
In the opening women's 6k, Longisa and teammate Zenah Cheptoo were part of a group of nine runners that went through the mile in 5:15.
The group of nine started to splinter, and by the time the field reached the 2.5 mile mark, Longisa and Oregon's Big Ten champion Diana Cherotich (Paul Merca photo) had opened up a three second gap on the chase group of four that included Cheptoo.
As the duo approached the three-mile mark, Longisa opened a two second lead on Cherotich, which she extended to her winning margin of four seconds, crossing the finish in 19:09 to Cherotich's 19:13.
Cheptoo finished sixth in 19:31, while Logan Hofstee of Gonzaga was seventh in 19:37.
Missing out on the top ten was Washington's Mia Cochran, who was eleventh in 19:54.
Behind Cheptoo for the Cougs were Caroline Jepkorir in 28th in 20:25, Nicole Bissell in 34th in 20:32, and Kylah Madariaga in 51st in 20:51, giving the Cougars a 1-5 split of 1:43.
The Cougs' frontrunners gave them a 120-124 margin over the Huskies for fourth place overall.
Behind Cochran for Washington were Abby DeVeau in 15th in 20:05, Chloe Foerster in 17th in 20:11, Jenica Swartz in 40th in 20:42, and Maeve Stiles one place and three seconds back.
Washington finished with a 1-5 split of 50 seconds.
Behind Hofstee for Gonzaga was Jessica Frydenlund in 13th in 20:03, followed by Willow Collins in 25th at 20:18. Alexi Fogo was 44th in 20:46, and Nina Yeats was 48th in 20:49. The Zags finished with a 1-5 split of 1:12, as they finished seventh with 137 points.
Eastern Washington was 28th with 800 points. They were led by Sara Sanders, who finished 124th in 22:04.
Seattle University was 36th in the 39 team field with 965 points. Azalea Groleau led the way with her 74th place finish in 21:13.
Stanford took the team title and one of the two automatic qualifying spots in a closely contested battle with Big Ten champion Oregon. The Cardinal prevailed with a 66-75 margin.
In the team race, the surprise of the meet was Boise State's third place finish with 114 ahead of the Cougars and Huskies. The other surprise was Cal Baptist finishing sixth with 133 ahead of Gonzaga.
Going into the West regionals, Gonzaga was projected to finish fifth behind Oregon, Stanford, Washington, and Washington State.
After Friday's nine regional meets around the country, Gonzaga finds itself on the outside looking in, according to the CollegeXC.com website.
MEN'S RECAP...
Unlike the West Coast Conference championship race in Spokane thirteen days ago, defending West Region champion Evans Kurui of Washington State did not blitz the first kilometer in 2:19.
In fact, Kurui went through the mile in 4:55, which put him in 117th place, seven seconds behind teammate Solomon Kipchoge (Paul Merca photo), who was part of a group of seven running at the front.
As the field reached the halfway point of the 10k contest in 14:53, Kurui joined that group along with Kipchoge, world championship 5000m finalist Valentin Soca of Cal Baptist and Uruguay, Yakima native Jonas Price of Portland, and WSU's Vincent Koech.
Behind the group of seven was a large chase pack led by Washington's Jamar Distel, with Gonzaga's Logan Schwartz and Bryce Cerkowniak, and the Huskies' Reuben Reina, Nathan Neil, Josiah Tostenson and Thomas Diamond at the back of the chase pack.
With a mile to go, Kipchoge built up a 16 second lead on Kurui, but Price was still in contention, five seconds back of Kurui in fifth.
Kipchoge and Kurui went 1-2, finishing the 10k race in 28:55 and 29:24. For Kipchoge, this was his second straight NCAA regional cross country victory, having won last year's Mountain Region race while at Texas Tech.
Price, the Oklahoma State grad transfer via Yakima's Eisenhower HS was fifth in 29:27.
For Washington State, Josphat Meli was 27th in 30:02, followed by Kutoven Stevens in 29th at 30:03. Vincent Koech closed out the Cougar scorers in 40th at 30:19. WSU finished with a 1-5 split of 1:24.
WSU's third through fifth runners couldn't quite overcome the late charge by Cal Baptist as the Cougars finished a close third to CBU by a 95-98 count.
Washington was led by Nathan Neil in 17th in 29:52, followed by Jamar Distel in 20th in 29:57. Reuben Reina was 22nd in 29:58, followed by Thomas Diamond in 45th at 30:23, and Isaac Briggs was 52nd in 30:26. The team finished with a 1-5 split of 35 seconds, one of the squad's better performances this season.
The Huskies ended up seventh with 154 points, one point behind sixth place Stanford's 153, and four back of fifth place Portland's 150.
Gonzaga may have paid for its early team front running, as the Bulldogs were eighth with 216 points.
Logan Schwartz, who was actually third at the mile, was the Zags' first runner in 18th at 29:55. Ryan Mitchell was 41st in 30:19, followed by Logan Law in 46th in 30:23.
Bryce Cerkowniak was 56th in 30:32, and Mason Kissell was 59th in 30:36. The Zags' 1-5 split was 41 seconds.
Eastern Washington was 25th with 677 points, led by Conner Wirth in 97th place in 31:20.
SeattleU was 29th in the 30 team field with 914 points. The Redhawks' top finisher was Roman Radecki in 161st in 32:37.
Oregon took the team title with 55 points, placing three runners in the top eight, followed by Cal Baptist and Washington State.
According to CollegeXC.com, Washington State will be the only at-large men's team to come out of the West Region.
The NCAA Division I cross country committee will announce the at large teams and name the auto qualifiers, as well as the individual qualifiers Saturday at 2 pm Pacific time when the cross country selection show will be webcast on NCAA.com.
Based on the results of Friday's races, Yakima native Jonas Price of Portland should get one of the individual qualifying spots.
On the women's side, Logan Hofstee and possibly Jessica Frydenlund of Gonzaga should be in the mix for an individual qualifying spot for next Saturday's national championship race.
NOTE: The NCAA, and the sports information offices of Sacramento State, Seattle University, Gonzaga University, Eastern Washington, the University of Washington and Washington State University contributed to this report.
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