SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gonzaga's Brandon Pollard and Yacine Guermali completed their seasons at the NCAA West Preliminary Round Saturday.
 
Pollard's successful career at GU came to an end at his second appearance at the NCAA West Preliminary Round in the 1,500 meters. He placed 19th overall and 11th in his heat with a time of 3:48.03. The redshirt senior became the first Zag to ever qualify for the national quarterfinals in the 1,500 meters.
 
Pollard was seeded 19th with a time of 3:44.32. He qualified for this year's NCAA West Prelim at the West Coast Invitational. His seed time ranks second on the GU all-time list. Last year at the West Preliminary Round in Sacramento, Pollard placed 10th in his heat in the first round of the 1,500 meters. His time was 4:06.28 and he finished in 46th place. He entered last year's regional seeded 27th.
 
"Brandon was mentally and physically ready for tonight's race," Director of Gonzaga Track and Field Pat Tyson said. "The second heat proved to be very tough. Brandon needed a two-second PR to move on. He stayed close with the 12-man field coming through 44.98 seconds for first 300 and then hit 400 splits of 61.32 60.34-61.41. At the bell, Brandon was not able to match the leg speed of the tough field of mids as they would go through 1200 at 2:58. Brandon rolled through at 3:01 and would close down the stretch in 3:48.03. The qualifiers would close in championship fashion between 55.5-56.0!
 
"Brandon stayed mostly composed, but was just a little off his game in the toughest field of runners he has ever faced!  Brandon Pollard will go down as one of the finest middle distance runners in Gonzaga history! He has gone farther than any Zag 1500-meter runner ever! Brandon will be missed!"
 
Guermali ran in the second heat of the 5,000 meters. His heat was easily the faster of the two quarterfinal sections. Sixteen of the top 17 times in the event came in the second heat. Guermali placed 16th overall and 15th in his heat at 14:06.39.
 
Guermali was seeded 43rd in the 5,000 meters. The Vancouver, Wash. native, qualified at the Cardinal Classic on April 19, with a time of 14:02.64, which ranks fourth all-time at GU.
 
"Nearly a perfect executed race for redshirt freshman Yacine Guermali," Tyson said. "The announcer mentioned that Yacine was running amongst kings, as he mixed it up in Top-5 position throughout most of the 12.5 lap race! When the pace cranked, he got separated with 300 meters prior to the bell lap. Yacine was edged out by Stanford's Connor Lane by 0.39 seconds to finish as the No. 2 freshman in the NCAA West Region. It was big time experience for the kid from Camas! I'm really excited for this young runner's future!"