SPOKANE, Wash.— Picked third in the WCC and fifth in a stacked NCAA West Region behind Portland, Oregon, Washington and Stanford, GU men's cross country is finally set for a return to competition — even if that means starting a season with a race the Zags end it with.
GU opens their spring cross country season in Las Vegas Thursday for the WCC Championships, facing off against national powers in Portland and 2019 national champion BYU. The men's race gets going at 11 a.m. Wednesday, and it's the only men's cross country event planned in an unusual spring season for GU split between two disciplines that usually don't share a timeframe — other than nationals, of course.
It's been well over a year since the Zags came as close as a team can get to making nationals as a team, missing the cut by the thinnest statistical margin while seeing teams they outran make it in. The setbacks since then have been plenty, but it hasn't diluted head coach
Pat Tyson's confidence in a team that's only gotten better in the time off.
"It's crazy to think there's been no XC racing since November 2019 — Add no outdoor track in 2020, and no indoor track in 2021," Tyson said. "Then the fall training block was hampered by Smokey air and a mini Covid Pause. Follow that with another mini pause in early February, and you can imagine this team is itching to get to the starting line and show their stuff."
Junior
James Mwaura leads a group of Bulldogs returners from that 2019 team, more than a year after he finished fourth to advance to nationals as an individual as a sophomore after finishing third in the Weat Region. He, along with seniors Pete Hogan and
Yacine Guermali, all earned preseason All-WCC honors, as voted by the conference's coaches.
Fifth year senior Hogan was one spot away from an All-WCC nod that year too, finishing 11th in the conference championships. Hogan placed 15th in the NCAA West Regionals in 2019, good for All-Region and only a tenth of a second away from joining Mwaura at nationals.
Guermali hasn't raced since spring of 2019 due to an injury, but his strong performances back then gave the WCC coaches all they needed to know. Tyson can't imagine GU not making NCAAs in 2019 if they had him, and with an opportunity for extended recovery, Tyson is more optimistic than ever about the "gritty, competitive" Guermali, who he said "will mix it up with Mwaura and Hogan."
Cullen McEachern and
Jake Perrin round out the rest of the most experienced GU runners, both with top-20 WCC finishes and NCAA Regional experience under their belts. Sophomore
Riley Moore is coming off a season when he had the second-fastest finish of any freshman at Regionals and was named WCC Freshman of the Year. Said Tyson: "He has that bigtime meet experience that adds to our team depth".
"This is our deepest team ever," Tyson said."We have so many characters back. They are stronger and more determined, and workouts and simulations have shown that growth.
"This team has mastered adapting, mastered staying in the ring and always getting back up. Even with the snow and ice and frigid winter weather, they just keep fighting!"
The GU men and women race Wednesday morning. The WCC women's championships will be decided at 10 a.m., followed by the men at 11 a.m. Live results will be available on GoZags.com.
