Gonzaga University
NCAA West Region
Boyle, Withers Show Well In First NCAA West Regional Appearance
11/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 14, 2009
Complete NCAA West Regional Results in PDF Format 
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. - Gonzaga University head coach Pat Tyson was pleased with the way sophomore Chris Boyle and Brett Withers competed at the NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championship Saturday at Springfield Country Club east of Eugene.
Boyle finished 101st in 33:12.67 and Withers 132nd in 33:52.76 over the 10K course.
Chris Derrick of team champion Stanford University led a 1-2-3 Cardinal sweep with a winning time of 30:38.84. The University of Portland, which won the West Coast Conference Championship for a 31st straight year, was second in the team standings with 84 points, well behind Stanford's 27. Stanford had had five runners in the top 12, Portland five runners in the top 39.
"Portland ran their elite today," Tyson said. "And their guy (Alfred Kipchumba) who set a course record in the winning the WCC meet finished 21st today. Of the first 50 runners, all the guys from the WCC were from Portland, of the next 51 nine guys were from the WCC and one of those was Chris."
That made Boyle 15th among WCC runners. He finished 10th in the WCC meet.
"It may look like Chris dipped a little bit, but you have to remember Portland ran a different group today than they did in the WCC meet," Tyson said.
But Tyson said Boyle ran a good race.
"It was a good race in sense he got his feet wet, got the experience and had never been in this setting before. It will help him for the conference and it will help elevate the team. Most importantly he got some great experience and didn't go backwards. It was slow and muddy, and if moves up just a few seconds he's in the top 80 and means he would have passed some pretty good runners," Tyson said.
Tyson said Withers finished his collegiate cross country career on a positive note.
"Withers engaged in the race well, beat a ton of guys from the conference. Brett ran with heart, never went backwards. I told him to beat as many WCC guys as he could. He was 28th among WCC runners today and he was 30th in the conference meet, so he improved. I'm proud of Brett. Overall, it was a good performance by both guys today," Tyson said.
But Tyson said the satisfaction level hasn't been reached yet.
"We're still very, very hungry. They are licking their chops to make Gonzaga better. This was kind of like feeling things out for Chris, but he definitely wants to bring back some kids who want to go to war next year," Tyson said,
The West Regional is returning to Springfield in 2010.
Tyson said there were only three non-Pacific-10 Conference teams in the Top 10 - Portland, Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara. Stanford and Oregon will receive automatic bids to the NCAA Championship, and Tyson predicts the University of Oregon, University of Washington, Cal Poly and Arizona State University - the third thru sixth place teams - will also receive bids. Cal Poly and ASU tied for fifth.
