SPOKANE, Wash. — The Gonzaga men's and women's cross country programs announced their 2022 fall schedule Wednesday, with a pair of ascendant teams looking to keep building off a historic 2021 season.

Both squads the majority of their top runners from 2021 — the GU men return eight of their top 10 and six of their top seven from last season's squad that placed 26th at Nationals, with the women bringing back eight of their top ten and five of their top seven from a team that took second in the WCC and fourth at NCAA West Regionals for its best finish in both since 2015.

The season opens with the Clash of the Inland Northwest on Sept. 2, where the Zags swept both the men's and women's titles in 2021 and the men have taken first as a team every year since 2016. Next up, GU plays host to Eastern Washington and Idaho at Spokane's Wandermere Golf Course on Sept. 9 before hitting the road for some premier meets.

A GU contingent will race in the Montana Open in Missoula, Mont. on Sept. 23, while the Zags' women's squad will head to Chestnut Hill, Mass., for the Boston College-hosted Battle in Beantown. The men's team's top runners will compete at OSU's Cowboy Jamboree the next day, racing on what will be the 2022 NCAA National Championships course in Stillwater, Okla.

On Oct. 14, both GU squads will compete in the prestigious Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisc., where the GU men took seventh overall and the GU women placed 21st against a stacked field of Top-25 competition.

The Bulldogs close out their regular season with a pair of meets closer to home, including the LC State-hosted Inland Empire Classic on Oct. 15 in Lewiston, Idaho and the Downriver Classic on Oct. 22, hosted by Community Colleges of Spokane. 

The Zags' postseason will begin with the 2022 West Coast Conference Championships in Portland, Ore. on Oct. 29. The Bulldogs will look to surpass last year's performance in Concord, Calif. that saw both the men and women place second, with Kristen Garcia (7th, 20:30.6) and James Mwaura (2nd, 23:17.1) both leading their respective packs with their best-ever individual finishes in the race. BYU is the reigning WCC champion in both men's and women's cross country.

This year's NCAA West Regionals are also set to take place in the Northwest, beginning on Nov. 11 in Tacoma, Wash., where the women took fourth and the men took fifth in 2021. This year's national championships are in Stillwater, Okla. on Nov. 19.
 

2022 Gonzaga Cross Country Schedule