The Gonzaga men's and women's cross country teams had impressive showings this
weekend in Sunriver, Ore. The men's squad clinched a victory over the 16th ranked
Ducks from the University of Oregon, while the women fell to the 4th ranked ducks
in a dual meet. "It's great to get a victory over Oregon," head coach Pat Tyson said.
Willie Milam and Patrick Richie finished second and third for the Bulldogs in the
men's race. Milam, a sophomore, covered the 4-mile course in 19:49.7 while Richie,
a junior, came across in 20:04.06. Oregon's Ben DeJarnette won in 19:39.5. Oregon
didn't race four of their top six runners, but Tyson dismissed that as the reason for
the victory. Tyson pointed out that the Bulldogs are redshirting Chris Boyle and
were without Andrew Walker.
The women didn't get the win, but had a solid showing nonetheless. The Ducks
entered just six runners but managed to finish them one through six. Tyson pointed
out this could be misconstrued though. "Lindsay Drake and Emily Thomas were in
the hunt and they stayed near the top in the Oregon pack for better than half the
race," Tyson said. Drake, Thomas and Maggie Jones all broke 18 minutes for the 5K
layout. Drake was seventh 17:16.4, Thomas eighth in 17:21.3 and Jones ninth in
17:59.6. Oregon's Claire Michel won in 16:45.1. "It was a good effort by our ladies,"
Tyson said. "The results don't show how well they really ran."
"Everybody ran with a lot of heart which is very exciting for Gonzaga," Tyson
said. "One of our goals was to not be intimidated. This will help callous us for the
rest of the season and the WCC's (West Coast Conference Championship)." Tyson
said the course was flat and fast, and he also pointed out the elevation is at 4,000
feet, more than twice of what the Bulldogs train at. Sunriver is officially list at 4,150
feet while Spokane is at 1,843 feet. "We didn't even talk about the elevation coming
in," Tyson said. "We turned in some pretty good times when you take that into
consideration, too."
"We don't know who our top seven or nine are going to end up being. But it's going
to be competitive and it's going to be exciting," he said as the Bulldogs eye a trip to
the WCC Championship in late October. The next action for the Bulldogs will be Sept.
24 at the Erik Anderson Invitational at Plantes Ferry Park in the Spokane Valley.
The WCC is continuing to emerge as one of the most competitive conferences on the
west coast, as demonstrated this weekend by Gonzaga University's victory over the
University of Oregon, a large school in the Pacific-12 conference. With the recent
addition of BYU to the conference, and increasing television exposure, the WCC
seems to be moving quickly into the national spotlight. The competitiveness of the
cross country teams is just one example of the increasing relevance of the WCC.
BYU's jump to the WCC adds even more intrigue to the conference, which was at
one point, not so long ago, only recognizable by Gonzaga University's basketball
team. St. Mary's basketball team has become more relevant in recent years, further
boosting the reputation of the WCC as a nationally competitive conference. And
now with BYU's entrance and more television exposure, the WCC will be viewed as
a serious contender on not only the west coast, but the national scene as well. With
the emergence of the "super-conferences", the WCC should still be able to hold its
own.
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