Washington's Theo Schucht, a transfer from Boston College, was the Huskies' top runner at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Verona, Wisconsin three weeks ago (Paul Merca photo).
It's championship week for the state's five Division I schools, with Washington off to Verona, Wisconsin for the B1G Ten Championships on Friday, hosted by the University of Wisconsin.
Washington State and Gonzaga make the short trek east of the state line to Boise, Idaho Friday for the first championship of the newly reconstituted Pac-12 Conference after a two year hiatus, in which the Arizona schools, Utah and Colorado bolted for the Big 12, Cal and Stanford to the Atlantic Coast Conference, and Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA took their teams to the B1G Ten.
Seattle University heads south on Friday for the West Coast Conference championship in San Diego, hosted by the University of San Diego, while Eastern Washington goes to Flagstaff, Arizona for Friday's Big Sky Conference championships hosted by Northern Arizona University.
With a few days to go before Conference Championship Friday, here's my thoughts and analysis of the state's five D1 teams:
WASHINGTON
I wrote last year that, "The Huskies are a bit of a mystery, especially on the men's side."
The lead paragraph from last year also applies to this year's version of the Dawgs, but I would add the women to the mix.
Just when you thought that Washington was on the road to figuring things out with the men's squad, despite losing former B1G Ten 10000m champ Evan Jenkins, who transferred to Oregon, the Huskies had a disappointing performance at the Nuttycombe Invitational on the same Verona course that's hosting the championship meet.
Theo Schucht, the Boston College transfer, led the Huskies in 78th-place overall in 23:44 for 8k. Tyrone Gorze ran 23:52 to take 90th after placing 13th three weeks earlier at the McNichols Invitational in Terre Haute, site of this year's NCAA championships.
Isaac Briggs was two seconds back in 98th-place. Transfer Jonathan Podbielski moved up 30 spots over the final 2k to finish 128th in 24:05, and Nathan Neil capped the scoring in 175th in 24:25, as the Huskies' 1-5 split was 41 seconds, but had no one in the top 50.
At McNichols, the then-unranked Huskies packed all five of their runners inside the top fifty, and were rewarded by the voters with a number 13 national ranking.
After Nuttycombe, the Huskies dropped to number 28, and are currently at number 29.
For the Husky men, they'll need to get better results from their other front runners Gorze, and Jamar Distel, who was fifth at last year's B1G Ten championships. Distel, who was up front early at Nuttycombe, faded badly, finishing 214th.
The Washington women, who are currently ranked number 29 in the latest USTFCCCA national D1 poll, will get some good news this week with the potential return of Julia David-Smith (Paul Merca photo) to supplement a very young, freshman dominated squad.
JD-S, who was a fifth year senior in 2025, was injured during cross country but was granted a sixth season. The Issaquah HS grad, who competes internationally for France, has not run a cross country race in a Washington kit since the 2024 NCAA championships in Verona, Wisconsin.
In contrast, Mia Cochran's eligibility is in the hands of the courts as she, and a number of student athletes around the country in various sports who were part of the high school class of 2022, await a decision on the Wisne v. NCAA case which would grant an extra year of eligibility.
As of now, Cochran was removed from the UW roster on their website, though she's still listed on their TFRRS roster.
Washington will have four other upperclassmen racing at B1G Tens this week, along with freshmen Elena Aldrink, Sherry Drury, Abby Hennessy, Charlotte Hopkins, and Milla Roberts.
In the Huskies' two races this season, Hennessy, a Track & Field News All American in the mile/2 mile, and Drury, a world U20 finalist in the 1500 this summer for Japan, were the first runners across the line. Hennessy led the way at McNichols with a 29th place finish, while Drury was the top runner at Nuttycombe, finishing 54th.
On paper, both Washington squads are projected to finish fifth in the B1G Ten championships, with Oregon the favorites to defend their titles.
WASHINGTON STATE
For the second straight year, Washington State has an opportunity to sweep both the men's and women's titles in the new Pac-12 Conference, which holds its first championship meet since the breakup after the 2024 academic year.
After they and Oregon State were left holding the bag by the other ten schools who left for the Big 12, B1G Ten, and ACC in the old Pac-12, the Cougs earned a pair of third place team finishes in 2024, and swept the team titles in 2025 at the West Coast Conference championships.
The Cougar women, who are ranked 13th in the USTFCCCA coaches' poll, go into Friday's Pac-12 championships on a bit of a roll after a third place finish at the McNichols Invitational in Terre Haute, and a seventh place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Wisconsin.
Freshman Millie Bii (Paul Merca photo) has driven the train for Washington State, which lost All-American Rosemary Longisa, who transferred to Iowa State after a season in which she earned All-America honors in cross country, and punctuated her season by winning the NCAA 1500m title.
Bii was the first runner across the line for WSU, finishing sixth at McNichols, and 26th at Nuttycombe.
Washington State has a little more depth than last year's version, which qualified for the NCAA championships, despite losing both Longisa, and Nicole Bissell, who transferred to cross state rival Washington.
Faith Kipmaiyo, Nelly Jemeli, Mercy Biwott, none of whom were on last year's roster, have run well. The Cougs have holdovers Zenah Cheptoo, Kylah Madariaga, Aleeya Cossey, and NCAA steeple qualifier Caroline Jepkorir from the team that ran in the NCAA cross country championships last season.
I don't see anyone in the Pac-12 with a realistic shot to beat either All Americans Solomon Kipchoge or Evans Kurui for the men's individual title.
That said, Washington State, which was ranked 17th in the country before finishing 23rd at Nuttycombe, paid the price as their other three scorers did not run well.
While WSU has two All American front runners in Solomon Kipchoge and Evans Kurui, sub-four minute miler Kutoven Stevens will be a factor if the Cougars are to win the Pac-12 men's team title (Paul Merca photo).
Third runner Kade Brownell finished 122nd in 28:08, Kutoven Stevens was 205th in 24:59, and Jackson Welsh was 212th in 25:10 for a team 1-5 split of 2:24.
Stevens, who went out hard early at Nuttycombe like Washington's Distel, will need to run a smarter race. Washington State's other runners will have their hands full with the likes of Gonzaga's Logan Law, Boise State's Brian Kiprotich, Finn Anspach, and Jack Sheesley, plus others.
Washington State hasn't had a 1-5 split of one minute or faster this season in their two biggest regular season meets, running 1:26 at McNichols, and 2:24 at Nuttycombe. That could leave them vulnerable to Boise State, Gonzaga, Utah State, and Colorado State.
GONZAGA
I'll start with the women first: The unranked Zags have held up well, despite missing all season both of last year's NCAA cross country championships qualifiers in Logan Hofstee and Jessica Frydenlund. While their presence has been missed, they would be in a world of hurt if not for the presence of freshmen Audrey Orme, a product of Boise HS, and Sloan Dickson (Paul Merca photo) from Lynden.
Orme was the first finisher for the Zags at the Sean Earl Invitational in Chicago, where she finished 15th. Dickson was the lead Bulldog at the Nuttycombe Invitational where she finished 68th.
Both Hofstee and Frydenlund are not on Gonzaga's entry list for the Pac-12s, so they will have to depend on a combination of Charlotte Dillon, sisters Emma and Maria Taggi, plus others, if they are to mount a challenge for a top three spot in the conference championship meet.
If there's some positives, in their two meets against national caliber competition, the Zags have run a 1-5 split (difference between the first runner across the line to the fifth runner) of under a minute, running 40 seconds at Loyola Lakefront, and 55 seconds at Nuttycombe.
After a solid performance at the Loyola Lakefront meet where the Zags ran a 1-5 split of 53 seconds, they regressed at Nuttycombe, running a 1-5 split of 1:31.
Logan Law (Paul Merca photo) has been a mild surprise for the Zags so far this season, leading them at both Loyola Lakefront and Nuttycombe, finishing fifth and 42nd, respectively.
Sophomore Logan Schwartz, who was fourth at last year's WCC championships, is slowly rounding into form, finishing 41st at Loyola Lakefront, and 203rd at Nuttycombe.
Samy Anderson, who did not run at either Loyola Lakefront or Nuttycombe, may be on the upswing after winning last week's Pat Tyson Invitational and being named USTFCCCA national cross country athlete of the week.
While Washington State has the frontrunners in Solomon Kipchoge and Evans Kurui, if Gonzaga, Boise State and possibly Utah State and Colorado State can put some pressure on the Cougars' other runners, the team race at the Pac-12s could get real interesting.
EASTERN WASHINGTON
Both Eastern Washington squads are honestly a hard read, considering that they haven't competed outside the Northwest region.
The women were third at the Montana Invitational, third at the Frank Knott Invitational in Spokane behind Montana State and essentially Gonzaga's non-traveling roster, and won the George Oja Invitational in Independence, Oregon, with only Portland's non-traveling squad, SeattleU, and Portland State the only NCAA D1 competition.
Their men were fourth at the Montana Invitational, fifth at the Frank Knott Invitational, and fourth at the George Oja Invitational.
Sara Sanders (EWU Athletics photo) has led the way for Eastern Washington, finishing tenth at the Montana Invitational, sixth at Frank Knott, and third at George Oja.
Owen Higgins led the team at both the Montana Invitational and the George Oja Invitational, finishing 22nd in the former, and 24th in the latter. Conner Wirth was Eastern's top finisher at the Frank Knott, finishing sixth.
It would be unrealistic to see either team finish above eighth in Friday's Big Sky championships, especially with the race in Flagstaff, Arizona, where the squads will also have to deal with altitude.
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY
Though Seattle University has a roster primarily composed of freshmen, the team was left rudderless when Jordana LeSavage resigned in July, leaving the school to scramble before naming her assistant Alex Jensen as the interim head cross country coach.
The Redhawk men were sixth at the Saint Mary's Invitational in Concord, California, fifth at the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem, Oregon, and fifth at the George Oja Invitational in Oregon.
Sophomore Jeremy Posdon was the leader in all three races, finishing 16th at Saint Mary's, 18th at Charles Bowles, and 21st at George Oja.
Senior Diana Carmargo Solis led the way for SeattleU at Saint Mary's, finishing 38th. Freshman Emma Bellomy was their top runner in 22nd at Charles Bowles, and freshman Adelaide Nelson crossed the line first in 15th place at George Oja.
It's unrealistic to see SeattleU finish above seventh or eighth in Friday's West Coast Conference championship meet in San Diego, especially with the likes of perennial WCC powerhouse Portland, and strong squads from San Francisco and Santa Clara.
Unfortunately, Seattle University has been a bottom feeder in both the West Coast Conference, and before that, in the Western Athletic Conference, given the minimal investment in resources to the combined track and cross country programs by the school.