Cougars host Montana and Central Washington in Cougar Classic; SeattleU opens at Ash Creek Invite...
Week two of the collegiate cross country season has three of Washington's Division I and II teams in action Friday.
Washington State hosts the Cougar Classic Friday afternoon at the Colfax Golf Club with Montana and Central Washington.
The women’s 6-kilometer race will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the men’s 8-kilometer race will start at 6 p.m.
The Washington State men, who potentially could be a top ten team when the NCAA championships are contested on November 21st in Terre Haute, Indiana, return All Americans Solomon Kipchoge and Evans Kurui (Paul Merca photo).
They also return from the team that ran at the NCAA championships last year, where the Cougars finished 17th Kade Brownell (245th), Evan Bruce (215th), Vincent Koech (233rd) and Kutoven Stevens (168th).
Wazzu adds two intriguing newcomers to its roster in Benedict Njoroge, who was ninth at the Kenyan Championships in the 5000, where he ran 13:57.82 in Nairobi, and Joshua Nderitu.
The Cougars open the season ranked number 21 on the women's side, returns Zenah Cheptoo (66th) Kylah Madariaga (212th), Caroline Jepkorir (231st), Aleeya Cossey (244th), and Kaleena Narus (256th) from the team that ran at last year's NCAA championships.
Washington State also returns to its roster Sabrina Colbert, who competed at the NCAA Division II championships for Western Washington, after starting her college career at WSU.
The Cougars will be a formidable test for both Central Washington squads, who are making the trip east from Ellensburg.
Central swept Saint Martin's last Saturday at the CWU XC Opener on their campus course.
Central's women, who are ranked second in the GNAC behind defending champion Western Washington, took the first five places and had a 47-second 1-5 split to take the team win by a 15-48 count, led by Maddy Harrison, the reigning GNAC 10000m champion, who covered the 5k course in 18:52.
While the Wildcat men are in a rebuilding mode, the women's squad has national championship aspirations, as they are scheduled to race at next month's Lewis Crossover in Illinois. That meet is one of the country's premier Division II invitationals.
The Cougar Classic marks the debut of Anna Bearrs as the Cougars' associate head coach after coming over from Oklahoma, where she was the co-head cross country coach and distance assistant for the Sooners.
Bearrs replaces Laura Harmon, who moved on to Iowa State.
In Monmouth, Oregon, Seattle University opens its season by competing at the Ash Creek Invitational, hosted by Western Oregon University.
The Redhawks were originally scheduled to open the season the following week at the Saint Mary's Invitational in California, but added a meet to their schedule.
The meet is the debut of Alex Jensen, a 2025 SeattleU graduate, as acting head coach after Jordana LeSavage resigned to pursue other coaching opportunities in July.
Both SeattleU teams are a bit of a mystery beyond their top returning woman from the NCAA West Regional team that ran in Sacramento last year, Diana Camargo Solis (170th), and Roman Radecki (161st), their top returning male from the regionals.
The field at the Ash Creek Preserve meet includes Division I Portland State, along with Division II Simon Fraser and host Western Oregon.
The men's 6k starts at 5 pm, while the women's 5k commences 45 minutes later.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Washington State, Central Washington, and Seattle University 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 or the blue icon on the lower right hand side.
Comments