Gonzaga University
WCC Championships
Zags Head to Portland for WCC Championships
10/27/2022 3:23:00 PM | Cross Country
Gonzaga men's and women's cross country heads to Portland, Ore. to compete in the West Coast Conference Championships on Friday, looking to make a splash ahead of NCAA West Regionals next week.
WCC CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Oct. 28 | Fernhill Park | Portland, Ore.
Live Results | Live Stream | WCC Championship Central
SCHEDULE
Women's 6K: 10:00 a.m.
Men's 8K: 11:00 a.m.
The women's race will feature the top 10 runners from each of the 10 WCC schools — BYU, Gonzaga, LMU, Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Saint Mary's, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Clara — while the men's race will include the top 10 runners from nine of these schools, excluding Pacific.
Gonzaga men and women both finished second in last year's WCC Championships. James Mwaura crossed the finish line with a time of 23:17.1 to take second overall as GU's top finisher, pushing reigning NCAA champion Conner Mantz of BYU for much of the race before a late surge from Mantz brought him his third consecutive conference championship. Kristen Garcia earned seventh overall (20:30.6) to lead the Zag women to their best WCC finish since 2015, with their 51-second spread the second best of any team other than BYU.
GU's top runners most recently competed at the Nuttycombe Invitational, where the men placed 26th in the team total and the women placed 36th. Both teams entered the season ranked in the USTFCCCA Top 25 for the first time in program history, and both teams reached program-bests in the rankings, with the men reaching No. 12 and the women clocking in at No. 21.
WOMEN'S OUTLOOK
The GU women placed second as a team at the West Coast Conference Championships and fourth at NCAA West Regionals last fall, but were one of the first teams out for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. Head Coach Jake Stewart's squad reached a program-best of No. 3 in the West that fall after the Zags' strong showing at a stacked Nuttycombe (21st overall) and at WCC's.
Along with a three-time nationals competitor in Garcia, GU returns five of its top seven from 2021 and adds six freshmen and two transfers, including another runner with nationals experience in Caramia Mestler (Oregon). In the spring, Garcia (10K) and fellow returner Alicia Anderson (5K, 1500m) both qualified for NCAA Regionals and reached the semifinals for their events.
MEN'S OUTLOOK
The Zag men are coming off their second-straight NCAA Championships appearance as a team after making it for the first time under Pat Tyson in spring of 2021, and return plenty of experience as well.
Led by 2021 All-American James Mwaura, the program record holder in both the 8K and 10K, GU brings back five runners who hold one of the 10 fastest times in program history in both distances and six of their top seven from nationals, including 2021 All-West Region finishers Wil Smith and Cullen McEachern.
