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Stanford Sweeps Regional Cross Country Titles in Wild WestPublished by
On A Wild Day At West Regional, Stanford's Consistency Led It To Back To Nationals; Oregon's Women, Gonzaga's Men Secure Second Auto Berths; Ky Robinson, Kaylee Mitchell Win Individual Titles Story and Photos by Keenan Gray of DyeStat SACRAMENTO – Stanford reigned supreme once more over the NCAA Division 1 West Regional, sweeping the men’s and women’s cross country team titles for the third consecutive season Friday at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex. But as both Cardinal squads celebrated from atop the podium stand, chaos unfolded in both races for teams vying for the second and final auto-qualifiers for the national meet Nov. 18 in Virginia. The No. 7 Stanford women bounced back in the win column following a second-place effort at the final Pac-12 Conference Championships at Chambers Bay in Washington, scoring 77 points with five women earning all-region honors. Lucy Jenks led the Cardinal with an 11th-place effort in 19 minutes, 42.7 over the 6-kilometer course, with teammates Amy Bunnage (19:50.1), Sophia Kennedy (19:56.3) and Zofia Dudek (19:57.2) filing in at 14th through 16th and Grace Connolly (20:04.1) finishing 21st. It appeared No. 8 Washington, the Pac-12 team champion, had secured the final bid to nationals through the 4-kilometer mark, but the No. 12 Oregon women made a huge push over the final 2 kilometers, surpassing the Huskies by six points to earn the second auto-qualifier, beating its Northwest rival 109-115. All-Americans Maddy Elmore (19:22.8) and Izzy Thornton-Bott (19:41.3) finished fifth and 10th, respectively, to lead Oregon, but it was teammate Anika Thompson, as Thornton-Bott called, “runner of the meet,” who scored valuable points finishing 12th in 19:46.3. Katie Clute rounded it out for the Ducks on the all-region team, finishing 24th in 20:06.6, and Tatum Miller was 58th to complete the scoring. Washington’s Chloe Forester led the third-place Huskies, running 19:59.4 to place 13th, with teammates Sophie O’Sullivan (19:59.4, 17th), India Weir (20:02.2, 20th) and Julia David-Smith (20:07.7, 25th) also earning all-region honors. Greta Karinauskaite and Yasna Petrova finished in the top eight to lead the No. 21 Cal Baptist women to fourth with 126 points as Karinauskaite ran 19:12.4 for second and Petrova ran 19:34.1 for eighth. Rosina Machu ran 19:15.7 to finish fourth for the Gonzaga women, who finished fifth with 173 points. Oregon State’s Kaylee Mitchell and Grace Fetherstonhaugh climbed into the top three for the ninth-place Beavers, who finished with 228 points, with Mitchell repeating as regional champion in 19:08.4 and Fetherstonhaugh in third in 19:15.6. UC-Davis’ Brianna Wielder, the final individual outside of a team to earn a spot at nationals, finished sixth in 19:23.8 and teammate Sierra Atkins (19:36.2) finished ninth. Portland’s Laura Pellicoro earned seventh in 19:24.7. The No. 10 Cardinal men cruised to a 22-point win, scoring 73 points and placed three runners in the top eight. Two weeks after winning the Pac-12 individual title, Ky Robinson owned the 10-kilometer race from the gun as he led from start to finish in 28:55.6 for the win. Teammates Cole Sprout (29:07) and Robert DiDonato (29:16.2) finished fourth and seventh, respectively, to round out the strong Stanford trio. No. 4 Cal Baptist was in search of its first auto qualifier since transitioning to the Division 1 ranks, but the West Coast Conference champion Gonzaga men played spoilers, coming away with a second consecutive second-place team finish, scoring 98 points. Wil Smith placed sixth overall in a time of 29:14.1 for the Bulldogs, with teammates Drew Kolodge (29:25.7, 12th) and Bryce Cerkowniak (29:34, 15th) providing strong efforts to help Gonzaga to a fourth consecutive nationals appearance. The Bulldogs weren’t the only WCC team to give Cal Baptist fits as Portland won a tiebreaker over the Lancers to finish third with 125 points. Matt Strangio followed his WCC individual title with a second-place effort in 28:59.5 to help guide the Pilots, with teammates Daniel Abdala (29:41, 18th) and Jona Bodirsky (29:41.2, 20th) joining him on the all-region team. Fourth-place Cal Baptist got top 10 finishes from Valentin Soca in third, running 29:02, and Arturs Medveds in ninth, running 29:21.2. No. 22 Washington, finishing fifth with 129 points, awaits it fate during selection Saturday when teams and individuals are announced for the national championships. Santa Clara’s Nicholas Russell ran 29:14 to finish fifth, earning a trip to the national meet for the second straight season. Cal Poly’s Davis Bove finished eighth in 29:18.5, Oregon’s Elliot Cook was 10th in 29:22.7 and Boise State’s Joe Hudson placed 11th in 29:25.1 to round out the top four individuals heading to nationals. More news |