SPOKANE, Wash. — For the third year in a row, Gonzaga Men's Cross Country heard their names called at the NCAA Selection Show on Saturday afternoon, signifying a qualification for the NCAA National Championship race. But this year, the Zags didn't have to wait until the show to know whether they'd be getting in after snagging their first-ever automatic bid with a second-place finish at NCAA West Regionals on Friday.

The Bulldogs's second-place finish behind No. 1 Stanford at the NCAA West Regional Championships at Chambers Creek Regional Park Friday morning was their highest finish and lowest point total at an NCAA Regional Championship in program history, with GU's three All-West Region finishers matching a program record.

In the team score, the Zags knocked off No. 14 Washington for the second time this year and No. 18 Oregon for the first time in program history as well as No. 24 Portland and No. 25 California Baptist — all of which were ranked above GU (No. 26) going into the meet. 

Wil Smith's 4th-place finish with a time of 28:25.4 was the highest by a GU runner at Regionals, with Yacine Guermali (seventh, 28:28.7) making it two Zags in the Top 10. Kyle Radosevich (22nd, 28:56.3) also earned All-West honors, with James Mwaura (26th, 29:04.5), Cullen McEachern (33rd, 29:12.3), Riley Moore (59th, 29:47.9) and Bryce Cerkowniak (29:58.6) rounding out GU's lowest point total at Regionals in program history.

In their first two appearances at Nationals in the spring and fall of 2021, the Zags finished 27th and 26th, respectively. James Mwaura, who led the Zags with a 36th-place All-American individual finish in 2021, will be making the fourth nationals appearance after qualifying as an individual in 2019. 

The Zags have already raced on the 2022 Nationals course at Oklahoma State University, knocking off six ranked teams en route to a 10th-place finish in the team score at the Cowboy Jamboree on Sep. 24.

Led by a 15th-place individual finish from Yacine Guermali (23:42.6), the Bulldogs beat out No. 8 Washington, No. 15 Harvard, No. 21 Princeton, No. 23 Furman, No. 24 Ole Miss and No. 29 Texas in the team standings to take 10th out of 27 teams. All of GU's top seven finished in the Top 100, with Guermali followed by Cullen McEachern (46th, 24:08.3), Wil Smith (49th, 24:09.3), Kyle Radosevich (64th, 24:15.3), Bryce Cerkowniak (71st, 24:19.1), Riley Moore (98th, 24:45.5) and Dominic Arce (99th, ​​24:47.0).
The 2022 NCAA Championships are set for Nov. 19 in Stillwater, Okla. Live results and streaming will be available via GoZags.com. Follow @ZagRunning on IG and Twitter for updates, race day content and more.