It's go time for all five Washington D1 schools at the NCAA West Regionals Friday...
SACRAMENTO--On paper, the Washington State women's team and both University of Washington squads have the best chance of qualifying out of Friday morning's NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships which is being held at the Arcade Creek Course at Haggin Oaks Golf Course for the second consecutive year.
The women's 6k race kicks the racing off at 9 am, followed by the men's 10k an hour later.
The Washington State women, led by individual champ Nelly Jemeli and Millie Bii (Tyler McFarland/PAC 12 photo) won the Pac-12 cross country title two weeks ago, come into the West Regionals ranked number 17 in the latest USTFCCCA NCAA Division I coaches' poll and number two in the West Region behind B1G Ten champion Oregon.
The Washington women, who were fourth in the B1G Ten meet in Verona, Wisconsin, are ranked number 26 nationally and third in the West Region, while the men, while out of the national top 30, stand number four in the West, behind Oregon, Stanford, and Arizona.
Gonzaga is currently ranked eighth in the West Region, led by freshmen Audrey Orme, and Sloan Dickson
Pac-12 men's champion Gonzaga, led by coach Pat Tyson (Paul Merca photo) and runner-up Washington State are ranked fifth and sixth in the West region heading into Friday's showdown.
In both team races, the top two squads earn automatic qualifying berths to next Saturday's NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Beyond the top two teams in each of the nine regional meets contested Friday, an additional 14 teams will earn at-large berths to bring the field to 32 teams, plus at least four individuals not on a team will get a spot on the line in Terre Haute.
Those fourteen at-large bids are decided based on how many qualifying teams a program has beaten in previous head to head races throughout in the season, which puts the Gonzaga and Washington State men in a bit of a precarious position, given their finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational.
At Nuttycombe, Washington State was 23rd, Washington 24th, and Gonzaga 33rd.
Based on projected finishes, both the Cougars and the Zags will probably need to finish no worse than fourth to have a realistic shot of qualifying as an at-large team.
Washington may have a slightly better chance of qualifying based on their third place finish at the John McNichols Invitational on the NCAA championship course in Terre Haute in late September. However, their 24th place finish at Nuttycombe may come back to haunt the Huskies, depending on what happens both here in Sacramento and in the other regionals.
The official at-large bids will be announced at the NCAA Selection Show on Saturday, which will be streamed on NCAA.com at 2 pm Pacific/5 pm Eastern time.
NOTE: The NCAA, and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.
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