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. 

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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.