COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Gonzaga's James Mwaura advanced to the men's 5,000-meter national final after placing fifth in the semifinal at the 2021 NCAA West Preliminary Round Saturday.
 
At E.B. Cushing Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M University, Mwaura qualified for the 10,000-meter national final Wednesday. The sophomore will be the second-ever men's qualifier for the national championships in program history. The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be in Eugene, Ore., from June 9-12.
 
In the 5,000 meters Saturday, Mwaura placed fourth in his heat, and 13^th overall, with a time of 14:00.07. The Tacoma, Wash., native, entered the event seeded 13^th with a school record time of 13:36.18.
 
"The extra day of rest of definitely helped," Mwaura said. "Honestly the goal was just to come out here and qualify, and that's what I did. I'm pretty excited about that."
 
Yacine Guermali finished 10^th in the same heat, and 20^th overall, at 14:06.12. He ran the second-fastest time in program history on April 30, 13:50.74, and he was seeded 38^th coming into the prelims. Jake Perrin was seeded 48^th, but finished 44^th at 15:00.00. He placed 23^rd in his heat. His seed time of 13:53.65 ranks fourth all-time at GU.
 
"I feel like in a race like that anything can happen," Guermali said. "There were a lot of great runners. A couple of the guys in front of me were Olympic Trials' guys. I gained a lot of experience out here and I see the standard. When I came here for the first time two years ago, I was probably about 16 seconds off what I needed, and this time I was about six seconds off. I got to keep finishing higher in these championship races."
 
In the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase, Ben Hogan was seeded 37^th, but finished 16^th with a time of 8:51.09. He improved his third-ranked time in program history, as he entered with a pervious personal best of 8:55.84. The junior placed fifth in his heat. The top three finishers from each heat, along with the next three best times, advanced to the national finals.
 
"I felt pretty good the whole way," Hogan said. "I was pretty sure I was going to get a spot the whole time. With about two laps to go, I started to kick it into gear, but didn't have the leg speed I wanted. But, I did get a PR by four seconds, and I'm happy with that, but definitely wanted a little more."
 
Alex Walde placed 35^th overall, and 13^th in the second heat at 9:12.89. He was seeded 48th at 8:58.17, which ranks fifth all-time at GU.
 
"Overall I'm relatively happy with the result," Walde said. "I kind of beat the odds coming in as the last qualifier. I definitely would have been happier walking away with a PR, but overall with the conditions here I think I performed pretty well. The last three laps the coaches helped push me along."
 
The men's 5,000 meters and 3,000-meter steeplechase were originally scheduled for Friday, but were postponed to Saturday due to inclement weather.
 
"Everybody ran well considering the heat, humidity and the delays," Director of Gonzaga Track and Field Pat Tyson said. "We got James qualified in two events. The depth and quality of the fields is truly amazing."
 
Kristen Garcia capped off the West Region Preliminaries for Gonzaga. She placed 40^th at 17:23.38. She was 21^st in the second heat. The junior was seeded 31^st with a program record time of 16:04.49.
 
Mwaura will now run in the 10,000-meter national finals in Eugene on June 9 at 7:38 p.m. The 5,000-meter finals will be on June 11 at 6:55 p.m. The NCAA Championships will be broadcast on ESPN Networks, with live results available on GoZags.com.