SACRAMENTO, Calif. – James Mwaura closed out Gonzaga's Day One at NCAA West Preliminaries with some history, finishing seventh in the 10,000M semifinal with a season-best time to secure his third straight trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas June 7-10.
The first GU athlete to compete this week,
Yacine Guermali opened up the meet for the Zags in the 1500m First Round, placing sixth in the Heat Three with a 3:44.15 mark that placed him 17th overall in the Men's 1500m First Round. The outdoor 1500m program record holder's finish was only two spots away from a Quarterfinals bid, faster than nine advancing runners. Guermali ends his GU career as one of just three male GU runners in history to reach NCAA West Prelims three times or more, the others being Kellen Manley (2016, 2018, 2019) and
James Mwaura (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023).
Mwaura punched his ticket to a third-straight NCAA Outdoor Championship appearance with a seventh-place finish in the 10,000M Semifinals and a season-best 28:22.05 time. The senior, who holds the outdoor program record in both the 10K and 5K, qualified in the 10K and 5K in 2021 and 2022 and earned All-American honors both years. With tonight's result, Mwaura becomes the first Zag runner to reach the Final three times in a career, nonetheless three in a row.
The senior held around 10 runners deep for much of the early stages of the race, surging late to move up as high as third and challenging eventual event winner Isai Rodriguez (28:17.98) and second-place finisher Patrick Kiprop (28:19.23) over the back stretch to cement his chances of advancing. He ran his nine fastest 400m splits of the race over the final 3600m, running six consecutive sub-67 second laps (1:05.8, 1:04.3, 1:03.3, 1:05.7, 1:05.2, 1:06.7) to close.
"Yay James! Worked throughout the 25 laps like a veteran," said GU Head Coach Pat Tyson. "Four seconds from the win, but all of the 12 guys who move on to Austin are winners."
In his NCAA Prelims debut, fellow Zag
Wil Smith finished in 29:22.59, good for 32nd place. Both runners will race again on Friday in the 5,000m, with Mwaura getting a chance qualify in both and Smith a chance to reach Nationals in his first Prelims appearance.
UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION
The Zag women begin competition in tomorrow's Day Two –
Alicia Anderson is first up on Thursday, set to race in the second heat of the Women's 1,500m First Round, before
Kristen Garcia and
Caramia Mestler compete in the Women's 10,000m Semifinal at 9:10 p.m.
The NCAA West Preliminaries will be broadcast live via ESPN+ on WatchESPN. Live results will be available through GoZags.com.
