LODI, Calif. - Rosina Machu successfully defended her West Coast Conference individual title, and Gonzaga Women's Cross Country claimed their first WCC Championship since 2015 on Saturday at Micke Grove Golf Links.
 
The 16th-ranked Gonzaga women placed all five-point scores in the Top 15, including four in the Top Ten to score 35 points, their lowest total at the WCC Championships since 2015, when they scored 34 points to earn the title in Spokane.
 
"This team is pretty special," Machu said. "We've been working for this team win for the four years that I've been at Gonzaga, and we finally got it done. We told ourselves we know who we are, and we know we can go into this race with confidence to win it not just for ourselves, but for the girls who came before us and who worked hard to help bring this team up."
 
Machu is just the third-ever back-to-back women's WCC champion and first since 2011, winning her second-consecutive WCC individual crown in dominant fashion. The senior finished the 6K race in 19:45.3, defeating the rest of the field by 18 seconds. In 2023, Machu's win was nearly identical, leading the entire race before claiming the 24-second victory.

The Boise-native was out in front early with Washington State's Zenah Cheptoo right beside her. However, by the first split at 2,000-meters, Machu had built a seven-second lead ahead of Cheptoo. The lead would continue to grow as the race continued, with Machu leading by 13 seconds at the 4,000-meter split.

"The plan was to go hard right out of the gate," Machu said. "Knowing myself, the first (kilometer) is always going to be hard, so I figured why not make it a little harder, not just for myself but for whoever is willing to come with me."

Freshman Logan Hofstee was the next Bulldog to cross the finish line, leading a flurry of Zags with a fifth-place time of 20:14.6. Willow Collins placed seventh in 20:20.5, and Jessica Frydenlund placed eighth in 20:21.3 to round out Gonzaga's four First Team All-West Coast Conference honors, which are the most First Team nods for the GU women since 2000.

"The grit of this team… it was incredible to turn around and see them all coming in one right after the other. It was really exciting to see that."
 
Jade Rypkema's 14th-place, 20:35.1 finish was perhaps the most crucial for the Zags on Saturday, with the sophomore closing out the Gonzaga point-scoring with a Second Team All-WCC honor. The five Bulldog scorers all finished within a 45-second spread, followed right behind by Alexi Fogo (17th, 20:49.4).
 
In total, all of GU's harriers placed in the Top 50, with Anna Grabowski (23rd, 21:06.1), Kate Donaldson (32nd, 21:25.9), Sadie Tuckwood (41st, 21:52.4), and Keira Saavedra (46th, 22:08.4) rounding out the Bulldog ten.
 
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The Zag women will now look ahead to the NCAA West Regional Championships, which will take place just a short drive away from Spokane in Colfax, Wash., where GU will hope to secure its first NCAA Championships team appearance since 2015.
 
Full results of the West Coast Conference Championships can be found HERE.