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Sept. 5, 2009

Complete Results in PDF Format

SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University opened the 2009 cross country season Saturday in the Clash of the Northwest at Mead High, and second-year head coach Pat Tyson was more than pleased with the results of his squad.

For the record, the Bulldog men beat Eastern Washington University 18-39 and the University of Idaho 26-33 while losing to Washington State University 22-35 in the dual meet scoring format. The Bulldog women downed EWU 15-50 and fell to WSU 18-41 and Idaho 25-32.

Senior Molly Funk of the Bulldogs finished fourth overall in 16:21.0. over the 4K layout at Mead High School. Funk and Kayla Lloyd went to the front of the pack and set the pace early. Lisa Egami of WSU came on to capture the individual title in 16:10.0 1. Lloyd finished 18th in 16:51.0.

However, the Bulldogs captured 14th through 19th with newcomers Lauren Bergam of Spokane's East Valley High took 14th in 16:37.0, Loyola Marymount University transfer Brenn Donnelly took 15th in 16:40.0, 2008 redshirt Elizabeth Slamkowski was 16th in 16:43.0, freshman Lacey Nation was 17th in 16:48.0, Lloyd took 18th and sophomore Corrina O'Brien was 19th in 16:54.0.

"I was really impressed by the young ladies. They ran with heart. We are way ahead of last year. I thought they competed really well," Tyson said. "I liked the guts by Funk and Lloyd at the start of the race. We can look at it two ways. You might say they went out too hard, but another way of looking at it is the moxie they showed and you can't coach that. That kind of attitude, when they are running in the future at the highest level, is what you want."

On the men's side, veteran senior Brett Withers finished 14th in 20:47.0 for 6K, and freshman newcomer Tate Kelly out of Spokane's Gonzaga Prep ran 21.00.0 to finish 18th. Redshirt freshman Andrew Walker was 22nd in 21:07.0 and freshman Christian Burger (freshman, 27th, 21:19.0), sophomore Lucas Rothenberger (28th, 21:20.0), freshman Brad Kachigan (29th, 21:20.0) and junior Ian Berge (30th, 21:31.0) led a strong Gonzaga contingent.

"On the guys side Withers was the number one man," Tyson said. "The freshman Kelly was in the game. And don't forget, we were without freshman Ben Lance who might be a number one, freshman Brian Hernandez who might be number one and junior Matt Bejar who has been our number one. We have to keep other guys healthy and get these guys fired up for Portland this coming weekend. I like where we are heading. We are way ahead of last year."

Tyson said Saturday's race helped solidify his lineup for the West Coast Preview at Pier Park in Portland next weekend.

"At least we know what 12 women we are taking to Portland. We have to evaluate the men a little bit. We've got 10 locked in but we have to see how Lance and Hernandez are health wise."

Tyson said he doesn't like the back-to-back weeks, but did it because of the upcoming wedding of assistant coach Jared Kramer in two weeks.

"The good thing today was we weren't running a 6K (women) and an 8K (men). We used today as a tempo workout and we'll use Portland as a workout. We'll also learn a lot about our kids," Tyson said.