Locally: Gonzaga men’s cross country earns first NCAA championships berth

Staff and news services

It’s a first!

Gonzaga University men’s cross country has been in existence since 1979, and for the first time, the Bulldogs have been invited as a team to the NCAA Division I National Cross Country Championships.

The 2021 edition will run Monday in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

GU also will be represented in the women’s race by junior Kristen Garcia, who received an invitation following her 12th-place finish in the WCC Championships late last month.

Washington State also received an invitation for redshirt junior Erin Mullins, who placed 13th in the Pac-12 Championships last Friday.

Gonzaga has sent two men to the NCAA Championships as individual qualifiers in the past five years. The most recent, James Mwaura from Tacoma, was selected in 2019 and placed 138th.

Now a junior, Mwaura led the Zags to a second-place finish in the WCC Championships with a program-record 23 minutes, 2.9 seconds for 8K.

The Zags will also count heavily on red-shirt junior Yacine Guermali, who ran the second-fastest time in program history (23:07.5) in finishing fourth, and freshman Wil Smith from Lewis and Clark, who was 11th in the fifth-fastest time (23:46.7).

Others in GU’s top seven were redshirt senior Peter Hogan, redshirt freshman Evan Bates and redshirt juniors Cullen McEachern and Dominic Arce, who all finished in the top 25 at the WCCs.

Garcia placed 12th in the WCC meet with the eighth-fastest 6K time in program history, 20:50.2.

Mullens led WSU’s showing in the Pac-12 Championships as the Cougars women placed fifth and the men sixth at Chambers Creek Park in University Place, Washington.

Mullins clocked 19:56.90 for 6K and earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors. Freshman Neema Kimtai was 20th in 20:09.10. Alaina Stone Boggs, a WSU freshman from Colville, finished 60th in 21:24.40.

“Erin Mullins ran a very gutsy race,” said WSU head coach Wayne Phipps. “Anytime you are all-conference in Pac-12 cross country is awesome.”

In the Pac-12 men’s 8K, senior Zach Stallings finished 18th for WSU in 23:30.3. Senior Jacobson Nicholson (West Valley) was 44th (24:46.3), senior Zack Kindl (Lewis and Clark) was 47th (24:47.3) and freshman Jacob Easton (University) was 57th (25:30.3).

Stanford swept the women’s and men’s titles on the chilly, rainy day with Colorado and Washington second and third, respectively, in both. Washington junior Haley Herberg led wire-to-wire in winning the women’s race in 19:02.5 and Colorado senior Eduardo Herrara won the men’s race in 22:30.9.

• Senior Malaina Thacker‘s ninth-place finish led the Idaho women to fifth place in the Big Sky Conference Winter Cross Country Championships on Feb. 27 in Riverdale, Utah. The Vandals men finished seventh with sophomore Gabriel Dinnel, their top finisher, 33rd.

The Eastern Washington men and women both finished 10th, with junior Carter Ledwith (Lewis and Clark HS) placing 38th as the men’s top finisher and redshirt junior Kaylin Aquilar the women’s top finisher in 47th place.

• Two Northwest Nazarene athletes from Spokane, women’s high jumper Madi Vonbrethorst, a junior from Ferris, and men’s 3,000-meter runner Tyler Shea, a senior from Northwest Christian, were named to the USTFCCCA Division II Indoor Track & Field All-West Region team with performances that rank among the top five in their event in the West.

• Four Washington State athletes – sophomore Charisma Taylor (women’s triple jump) and juniors Sam Brixey (men’s 60-meter hurdles), Zach Stallings (men’s mile), and Colton Johnsen (men’s 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters) – will compete in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships this week in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Letters of intent

Gonzaga men’s cross country/track: Marshall Bush, distances, Tillamook, Oregon; Paul Talens, distances, North Bend, Washington (Mount Si HS).