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New Cross Country Era Starts Saturday For Bulldogs
Sept. 5, 2008
SPOKANE, Wash. - A new era of Gonzaga University cross country starts Saturday when first-year head coach Pat Tyson takes his Bulldogs to his old stomping grounds at Mead High for the Clash of the Northwest. Host Eastern Washington University, the University of Idaho and Washington State University will be on hand to start the collegiate cross country season. The women's race starts at 10 a.m. with the men beginning at 10:30 a.m. Tyson was hired this past spring as the first full-time cross country and track coach in school history. He most recently was at South Eugene, Ore., High as the track and field coach. He also coached at the University of Oregon as a volunteer coach for the 2005-06 season and at the University of Kentucky overseeing the Wildcats' men's and women's cross country team and distance runners during the 2006-07 school year. But it was at Mead High where Tyson made his legacy. He joined the Mead staff in 1986 and by the time he had left the Panthers at the end of the 2003-04 school year he had produced 12 Washington State Cross Country team titles, nine individual cross country champions and 17 individual track and field distance champions (1,600 meters and above). And it's at Mead High on Saturday where he hopes to begin the trek that will take the Bulldogs to the next level. Gonzaga has been picked to finish sixth in both the men's and women's West Coast Conference results in a pre-season vote of coaches. But that doesn't faze Tyson. "It's a great place to start," the always upbeat Tyson said of the prognostications. "We'll have to beat the odds and be better than sixth." Tyson thinks he has the runners to do it. "There's no doubt our women are better than last year. On paper we are much better. The men have everybody back and we just have to get better. There is plenty of potential," he said. The men return all seven runners who competed in last year's WCC Championship - senior Colby Litzenberger; juniors Brett Withers and Brian Slamkowski, and sophomores Matt Bejar, Ian Berge, Tony Karafiat and Ryan Keene.
Litzenberger is the experienced leader, placing 20th in last year's championship in 26:20 as the WCC ran an 8K championship course for the first time. Withers was 26th in 26:36. "We also have some freshmen with lots of potential, but I don't know if they can crack the lineup," Tyson said. He pointed to Cameron O'Neil, Joshua Dilger and Hans Hagmeier as three promising freshmen. The women's team features four returnees who competed in last year's WCC Championship. Juniors Molly Funk and Madeleine Ginanotti are joined by sophomores Brittany O'Regan and Laura Volcheff as the experienced veterans. Juniors Leslie Otto, Ashlee Commeree and Lauren Rochholz provide returning depth, and Jenne Dilts and Martha Dobson return after spending a year in Gonzaga's study abroad program and not competing last fall. Tyson also points to freshmen Teresa Makowski and Elizabeth Slamkowsi as two to look for good things from, as well as redshirt sophomore Corrine O'Brien. Yes, the Slamkowski's are brother and sister. "Some of the newcomers have really looked great and we have a solid returning core to build around," Tyson said of the women's squad. Tyson has been looking forward to Saturday since the day he got the job last May. "Gonzaga is a sleeping giant, and I've had a lot of people tell me that. Spokane is fertile ground, has the trails and has the support of the running community. Portland has set the bar and Gonzaga is ready to chase it. It's a cool opportunity and I'm jacked to be a part of it," he said at the time of his hiring. And the race to catch Portland starts, fittingly, where Tyson's legacy was built. Portland's men's and women's cross country teams were both picked to repeat as conference champions, as chosen by the WCC coaches in the 2008 preseason poll. The men received the maximum seven first place votes, while the women barely missed out on a perfect score with six first place votes. The Pilots have won the men's race 29 consecutive years, the longest streak in any sport in WCC history. However 2007 marked the first time in 28 years that a Portland runner did not win the individual championship as USF's Cheyne Inman captured the title winning the race in 25:20. Gonzaga's men finished second from 1987-95 and returned to the runnerup spot in both 2003 and '04. As is the case with the men's program, the WCC women's cross country championship has been dominated by Portland since its inception. The Pilots have won 18 of the 23 women's championships the WCC has sponsored, including 11 of the last 12. The women's championship was run on a 6K course for just the second time in 2007, and Portland's Dana Morgan, who was the Freshman of the Year the previous season, captured the individual title with a time of 20:32, setting a course record. San Francisco set a program-record with 43 points en route to a second place finish. Gonzaga captured the women's crown in 1995 and a year later freshman Cheska Fairbanks became the Bulldogs' lone individual champion. The 2008 WCC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championship will take place Nov. 1 at the Crystal Springs Cross Country Course in Belmont, Calif. West Coast Conference Men
1. Portland (7) 49
2. Loyola Marymount 39
3. San Francisco (1) 37
4. Santa Clara 34
5. Pepperdine 24
6. Gonzaga 19
7. San Diego 13
8. Saint Mary's 9 Women 1. Portland (6) 48 2. Loyola Marymount (1) 42 3. San Francisco (1) 37 4. Santa Clara 31 5. Pepperdine 25 6. Gonzaga 16 7. San Diego 14 Saint Mary's 14 |
