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Veterans Take Lead In Cross Country Opener
Sept. 6, 2008
SPOKANE, Wash. - The veterans stole most of the spotlight for Gonzaga University in the cross country season opener Saturday morning at the Clash of the Northwest at Mead High School. First-year Bulldog coach Pat Tyson got his first look at the Bulldogs, and for the most part was pleased with the effort. Junior Brett Withers paced the Bulldog men with an 8th-place finish in 19:59.1 over the 6K course, while senior Colby Litzenberger, battling allergies, was 14th in 20:20.1. On the women's side, sophomore Laura Volcheff got Tyson's attention with her 15th-place finish in 16:21.5 over the 4K layout. Junior Molly Funk was 21st in 16:53.4 and freshman Elizabeth Slamkowski 22nd in 17:00.7. Paul Limpf of Eastern Washington University captured the men's title, while Allix Lee-Painter was the women's winner in 15.20.4. The EWU men took the team title with 30 points with Washington State University second with 36, the Bulldogs third with 72 and Idaho fourth with 88. WSU claimed the women's title with 25 points followed by Idaho with 51, EWU with 79 and Gonzaga with 83. "We've been working two weeks and I liked the fact we ran with heart and ran with pride and didn't embarrass the Gonzaga on the jersey," Tyson said. "We have one under our belt." He applauded Withers and Volcheff for setting the bench mark. "Brett ran against some good runners. He could be an All-American. Colby will be huge for us and he finished near Brett. Laura set a nice bench mark for the women to be attached to. We need to get four or five others with her and close the gap a little bit if the women are to be successful."
Tyson said the race helped determine his runners he will take to the Sundodger Invitational in Seattle Sept. 20. |
