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Bulldogs Ready For WCC Cross Country Championship
Oct. 30, 2009
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University second-year head cross country coach Pat Tyson is looking for a much-improved Bulldog squad to be more competitive when the West Coast Conference Cross Country Championships are contested Saturday at Crystal Springs Course in Belmont, Calif. "There's no doubt the expectations are high. We feel better about ourselves. But we have so many young runners on this team - and a lot of pure freshmen - we'll have to see how they perform." Tyson's lineup on the women's side will be juniors Molly Funk, Corrina O'Brien and Brittany O'Regan; sophomores Brenn Donnelly, Elizabeth Slamkowski and Kayla Lloyd, and freshmen Laura Bergam. Funk finished 40th in last year's WCC Championship while O'Brien was 44th as two the lone veterans. The men's lineup will be senior Brett Withers, junior Matt Bejar, sophomore Chris Boyle and freshmen Tate Kelly, Christian Burger, Patrick Richie and Brad Kachigan. "We're excited. People don't expect a lot out of us, but like last year we want to try and beat the odds," Tyson said. "I don't know much about other teams, and I don't really care. It's about us performing and doing the best we can."
Tyson said he doesn't know where either of his teams to finish. "Where they might finish I don't really know," Tyson said of his women. "It would be cool to be in the top four. But I think we cold shock the WCC by getting higher." He echoed the same thoughts about his men. "The men's side is similar. We have three young men who ran last year. Bejar is our top returnee, Brett is healthy and Boyle has been our number one runner the last couple of weeks. I know they'll run better than we did last year and maybe they could sneak into the top four." Bejar was 17th a year ago, Withers 33rde and Boyle 40th in the WCC meet. The Portland men, who have won the conference race 30 years in a row and were chosen to take first again in the WCC preseason coaches poll, have remained in the No. 8 spot in the USTFCCA national rankings all year. The Pilots finished fourth at the recent NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. on Oct. 17, just behind top-ranked Stanford, Colorado and BYU. The Pilots are also ranked in the West region at No. 3, along with No. 15-ranked Loyola Marymount. On the women's side, Loyola Marymount University and the University of San Francisco have also risen into the West regional rankings with the Lions at No. 7 and the Dons at No. 12. In addition to strong performances by ranked WCC teams, the reigning WCC Champion Portland women have also put up impressive team finishes this past weekend, which will likely garner the Pilots a USTFCCA ranking, taking second at the Mike Hodges Invite on Oct. 16 and first place at the recent Beaver Classic on Oct. 24. First place finishes were also captured by the Gonzaga men (West Coast Preview Meet - Sept. 11) and women (Erik Anderson Invite - Sept. 26) and the Pepperdine men and women (Cal State Bakersfield Invite - Sept. 26). The Loyola Marymount men also had a decent showing at the Stanford Invitational on Sept. 26, finishing seventh out of an 18-team field that featured top-ranked Stanford, California, and UC Davis. Across the board, several runners have also made names for themselves, rising to the occasion early on in the season, including Saint Mary's Mark Blucher, Loyola Marymount's Sheree Shea, San Francisco's Eva Krchova, and WCC September Runners of the Month, Robbie Reid and Stephanie Wilson from Santa Clara. Blucher captured the individual title at the Doc Adams Invitational hosted by UC Davis, recording the fourth fastest time in program history for the 8K race with a time of 25:13.4. Blucher has already two top-five times in Gael history this season. On the women's side, Shea and Krchova are two freshmen that have impressed this fall. Shea debuted her collegiate career with a breakout race at the UC Riverside Invitational on September 19th, placing third overall and setting an LMU course record of 16:51 in the 5K race. Shea then followed that performance with a 21:06 at the Stanford Invite, the fastest 6K time for a freshman in program history. Krchova, the fifth runner to cross the line at her home invitational on September 5th, helped USF to the team title over California, UC Davis, Sacramento State and WCC rival Santa Clara. Two weeks later, Krchova placed fourth overall at the Aztec Invitational, leading her team to a 2nd place finish and a spot in the regional rankings. Reid set the school record at the Stanford Invitational, finishing 10th overall with a time of 24:30 in the 8K race. He then took home his first collegiate title at Santa Clara's Bronco Invitational on Oct. 17. Wilson was the top collegiate finisher on the women's side at the Bronco Invite. Earlier in the season, she set the school record for a 6K (20:57), finishing 10th at the Stanford Invite and becoming the first female in Bronco history to run a 6K under 21 minutes, and won the Hornet Jamboree on September 12th to win her first collegiate cross country |
