Harriers Look To Climb Respect Ladder At West Regional
11/9/2012 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University's men's and women's cross country teams will be running with the "big guns" Friday at the NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships.
But unlike past years, Gonzaga finds itself right there with them and looking to crash the elite ranks.
For the first time ever, the West Regional Championships will be held in Seattle at Jefferson Park Golf Course. The women's 6K begins at noon with the men's 10K at 1:15 p.m.
Gonzaga's line-ups will virtually mirror the list of entrants at the West Coast Conference Championship, the exception being only seven participants are entered in the regional while the WCC allows nine.
The Bulldog men will go with Tate Kelly, Chris Boyle, Colin O'Neil, Brent Felnagle, Robert Walgren, Nick Roche and Willie Milam.
The women go with Lindsey Drake, Emily Thomas, Lauren Bergam, Amelia Evans, Maggie Jones, Catherine Theobald and Lara Tuthill.
Kelly was the top finisher for the men at the WCC Championship, placing 11th to help the Bulldogs to third. Drake earned All-WCC honors for the women with her ninth-place finish as the Zags finished fourth.
There's a different attitude among the two camps this year compared to last season when the women finished 15th and the men 18th. Drake placed 36th and Thomas 54th for the women, while Kelly was the top male finisher for the Zags in 84th.
"Last year went in and said we have to proof ourselves we earned the right to be here. We should come in here and be a top 15 team, we want to set the stage for the future and this is our baseline we want to establish," assistant coach Patty Ley said of the women last year at Stanford University.
This year she's singing a different tune.
"We're building off the baseline, bigger goals and chasing a top 15 and maybe getting a little more; tasting the top 10 would be awesome. There's a far amount of parity when you take a look at it from eight down," she said of this year's race.
But there are still a lot of unknowns in terms of the competition.
"We haven't seen a lot of those teams. We've seen them in comparison to other teams. It's getting in there, mixing it up and taking another step forward in terms of what we want to build as a baseline. A little better finish. Top 10 would be awesome, single digit would be sweet. At the same time, making sure we stay in that top 15 and making sure we are always, always there. Then taking the next step to be always, always a top 10 and then be always, always a top five," she said.
For the men, it's a similar scenario - knowing you belong instead of thinking you belong.
"We knew last year we needed to be there to experience it. If you don't experience a big meet like that it could almost be overwhelming. I won't say it was overwhelming, but you could tell they thought it was really intense. You have to run two extra 'K' at the same pace you ran at conference. We got that under our belt," Tyson said of last year's regional experience.
He is convinced going to regionals last year played a large role in Gonzaga's third-place finish in the WCC Championship.
"I think it helped us at the WCC's this year. We ran like we deserved to be in the hunt. The last few days you can see a change in their demeanor. There's a little respect now being 10th in the region. WSU is right in front of us and California is right behind us. What we last year did, I'm glad we did it. This will make us better. Now we're in Seattle, in our neighborhood," he said of Friday's meet.
The Bulldog men are ranked 10th in the latest West Region rankings while the women are 15th.
But the field in the West Regional - one of the toughest in the country - remains formidable on both a regional and national scale.
On the men's side, Stanford is ranked third in the country and first in West Region. West Coast Conference foe University of Portland is ranked ninth nationally and second in the regional, the University of Oregon is 11th nationally and third in the region and Arizona State University is 25th in the country and fourth in the region. Washington State University is just ahead of the Bulldogs in the regional rankings in ninth, WCC rival University of San Francisco is 11th in the region and the University of California is 12th.
"When you look at the people who were ahead of us last year and now we're ahead of, it's probably why we should be ranked number 10. It's why we're in the hunt to see how deep into the top 10 we can get," Tyson noted.
The Oregon women are third in the country and first in the region, Arizona is fourth nationally and second in the region, Stanford is fifth in the nation and third in the region and regional host University of Washington is seventh in the country and fifth in the region. WCC foe USF is ranked 26th in the nation and fifth in the region, UCLA is ranked 29th in the national poll and sixth in the region and WCC foe Portland is seventh in the region.
Ley said the Zag women have to worry more about themselves and less about the competition.
"It's a little rough when you have to compare against other teams we haven't seen. Mostly, they have to get out of their own way, trust the changes we've put in, shut down the brains a little bit, trust themselves and race hard," Ley said of the game plan. "We can't play defense. When you start playing defense you start over thinking who you are racing and the 'maybe I can or maybe I can't' beat that person."
But Ley knows it will be a challenge in what is undoubtedly the toughest region in the country.
"Four of the top seven ranked teams nationally are in the region. Oregon at three, Arizona four, Stanford five and Washington seven," Ley said. "USF from our conference is 26th and UCLA is 29th. It's pretty loaded. It's the most ranked teams of any region. It will be interesting to see what happens," Ley said.
Tyson knows the men's fortunes rest on Kelly and Boyle, although he's quick to point you "you need five guys."
"Tate has a huge amount of confidence and hopefully Boyle can get back in the hunt is his backyard," Tyson said of his top two.
Boyle, a Seattle native, redshirted a year ago after finishing 27th in the West Regional in Eugene, Ore., the previous year.
But Tyson has a lot of confidence in his seven-man contingent.
"O'Neil has a big meet under his belt and he's from Seattle. Felngale grew up in Tacoma. Walgren is from Alaska so it's like a suburb of Seattle. That top five to start with would be nice to have five guys in the top 50 and to have a couple of guys touching 20th place. It would be nice to have all seven well under one hundred, in the top 80 or top 75. Roche is a believer after conference (24th overall and the fourth Bulldog finisher). We feel really good about this team," Tyson said.
The addition of Milam to Friday's race was a late-in-the-week decision.
"We're running Willie. You never know about Willie. When Willie is on he's amazing, but he's been struggling with some health issues. He's felt good all week and has been cleared to run," Tyson said.
Tyson, in his fourth year at the helm of the Bulldogs, is predicting a high-scoring regional
"It's going to be a high scoring region, not a low scoring region. Portland could be number one in our region. Stanford is a little weaker, Oregon is a little weaker. But they have respect. I'd be disappointed if we're not in the top 10. There's more parity. The Pac-12 (Pacific-10 Conference) is not as strong as it has been. Each team has a couple of top guns, but their depth falls right off. For Gonzaga we need Tate and Boyle to be closer to the top, our other three guys sniffing the top 50 and that gives you a score of 200. The winning team could have 100 points," Tyson predicted.
For complete race entries and live stats results click here.
