SPOKANE, Wash. – Seven Gonzaga student-athletes will represent the University at the 2021 NCAA West Preliminary Round in College Station, Texas, May 26-29. The NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Committee announced the West Region and East Region Preliminary Round participants Thursday.
 
Women's runner Kristen Garcia was selected to the 5,000-meter field, while James Mwaura, Yacine Guermali and Jake Perrin are in the men's 5,000 meters. Mwaura will also run in the 10,000 meters, joined by Peter Hogan. Ben Hogan and Alex Walde are in the 3,000-meter steeplechase field.
 
For each individual event contested at each of the Preliminary Round sites, the top 48 declared student-athletes will be accepted into the competition. The University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida will host the East Preliminary and Texas A&M University, in College Station, Texas will host the West Preliminary.  The qualifiers out of these two regions will compete in the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships held June 9-12 in Eugene, Ore.
 
Garcia is seeded 31^st in the women's 5,000 meters. Her seed time of 16:04.49 is the program record, ran at the OSU High Performance in Corvallis, Ore., on April 30. She will conclude the West Prelims for the Zags on May 29 at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
 
Mwaura, Guermali and Perrin run in the men's 5,000 meters at 6:30 p.m. PT, on May 28. Mwaura's seed time of 13:36.18 ranks 13^th in the region. He ran that school record at the Oregon Relays on April 23. Guermali ran the second-fastest time in program history on April 30, 13:50.74, and he is seeded 38^th in the race. Perrin snuck in with the 48^th spot in the race. His seed time of 13:53.65 ranks fourth all-time at GU.
 
Mwaura and Peter Hogan open the meet for the Bulldogs in the 10,000 meters on May 26 at 7:10 p.m. Mwaura enters the race with the ninth-seeded time at 28:27.49. He ran that program record recently on May 14 at The Track Meet in Irvine, Calif. Peter Hogan's is seeded 32^nd. He ran the No. 2-ranked time, 28:53.70, in GU history at the OSU High Performance.
 
The steeplechase will also be on May 28, at 4:10 p.m. Ben Hogan enters with a seed time of 8:55.84, which ranks 37^th in the field, while Walde is 48^th at 8:58.17. Both Ben Hogan and Walde ran their times at the OSU High Performance Meet. Hogan's time ranks third all-time at Gonzaga, and Walde ranks fifth.
 
Student-athletes with the top 12 times or marks and the best 12 relay teams at both the East and West Preliminary Rounds sites will qualify for the NCAA Championships in Eugene in June.
 
The NCAA West Preliminaries will be broadcast live on the SEC Network, with a live stream on Watch ESPN.  Live results will be available through GoZags.com.