SPOKANE, Wash. - It doesn't take much for Gonzaga University head coach Pat Tyson and assistant coach Patty Ley to get excited when talking about the upcoming cross country season.
They both believe the Bulldogs - as well as the entire West Coast Conference - are getting better.
They get their first taste of competition Saturday at Spokane's Mead High School when Washington State University, the University of Idaho and Eastern Washington University gather for the Clash of the Northwest. The women's 4K starts at 10 a.m. with the men's 6K at 10:30 a.m.
The men return senior Chris Boyle off a redshirt season and also have seniors Tate Kelly and Andrew Walker to provide leadership at the top.
"They are definitely the leaders," Tyson said. "It's nice to see Chris Boyle fit. Hopefully, we can maintain that. Hopefully, fifth year is the charm for the guy. He's been waiting the last four years for something that is more than just about him; it's about a team that is a group of collective guys really chasing their dreams as one of the best teams in the WCC."
And Tyson thinks big things are in the near future for this team as he enters his fourth season.
"You can see smiles on their faces," he said of his captains. "Every time I see them I ask them what they think and they tell me they love this team. They know the history and they know where we are. The young kids don't know that and they don't go back and reflect on that because it's not an important item. The seniors bring some experience, the value of the West Coast Conference and the value of regional last year to share with the young guys."
One of those young guys is Conor McCandless, who Tyson made an important call to earlier this week.
"I called Conor earlier this year and told him he was wearing the jersey Saturday," Tyson said. "He told me he'd been waiting for the call."
The freshman from Spokane's Gonzaga Prep has impressed Tyson in camp.
"Part of the reason I'm not redshirting him is he looks so good in practice. Plus, you almost owe it to Boyle and Kelly to have him in there. He has that look, that little edgy look. We need those leaders to continue to share with him, because they will be gone next year. When they go to a WCC meet or go to a regional meet they have already tasted that and they can help him, and the others, with what to expect."
The women have a similar story to the men, as one of their top runners is also back.
Senior Lindsey Drake missed the outdoor season last spring with a stress fracture in the femur.
"Lindsey is coming off a stress fracture in the spring. She started running in July and is advancing pretty well. We like the course she is on," Ley said. "We'll let her race a little bit early. We'll make those decisions race-by-race. She's on course to be right where she needs to be by the WCC's and regional."
Junior Emily Thomas, who earned Gonzaga's inaugural berth in the NCAA Track and Field West Regional last spring, is another of the leaders for the Bulldogs. She finished ninth in the WCC Cross Country Championship last fall to earn All-WCC honors.
"Emily put on more miles this summer than she ever has. She's faster and stronger than she's ever been," Ley said.
But the upperclassmen leadership is also supplemented with some outstanding depth.
"Brent Felnagle broke the school record in the 1500 meters. He's never really had a solid period of time as a runner. He's a young runner. He's only been running three years since his senior year of high school. He is a competitor and looks so good so he'll be in the mix," Tyson said. "Willie Milam is almost equally the same. What he did in that meet last year against Oregon to help us upset them was exceptional. He's back, he's healthy and he's in that mix with all those guys. He's got some WCC experience.
Robert Walgren is a pure junior, broke our indoor record in the 3K, is so much stronger than a year ago and it's exciting to have him in the lineup. Nick Roche has the WCC and regional experience as a true freshman. He broke our steeplechase record last year. He's there. Add Colin O'Neil who most people don't know much about. He's a sophomore, had some bouts with injuries and has run a pretty good 3K indoors and ran a sub-15 5000 meters outdoors and if healthy is a really, really tough competitor," Tyson said of some of the returning depth.
That depth means most of the freshmen, minus McCandless, will redshirt, along with the possibility of a couple of veterans taking a redshirt season.
"McCandless is the one based on what I've seen in workouts. He's the guy who I see being in that top seven or top nine. The other guys aren't going to make it easy for him. A lot of our freshmen are probably where Chris Boyle was as a freshman, but we needed to run Boyle right away," Tyson said.
Freshmen Alec Temple, Danny Lunder and a couple of walk-ons "just need a year of getting their feet wet and we can do that without losing a fifth year of eligibility if they choose that down the road," Tyson noted.
Junior Lauren Bergam returns on the women's side after a redshirt season and "looks really strong after a good summer. The biggest thing for her is to manage a heavy mechanical engineering load along with all the training," Ley said.
There are others who will battle for spots.
"Krista Beyer was sub-22 for 6K last year, joining a pretty small club at Gonzaga. She ran well at regionals, finished 80th and did Gonzaga-in-Florence (study abroad) and put in miles. She tends to be a late bloomer in terms of what will happen at the end of the season, but I feel really good about her being there," Ley noted.
The list of veterans includes junior Catherine Theobald; sophomores Elizabeth Ryan and Maggie Jones, and redshirt freshman Megan Batty.
"Meghan just had her tonsils out and will be a little bit of a late bloomer down the road. Those are kids that will help us out in a number of ways. Megan was running 60-70 miles a week and then got hit with that, so she's pretty excited. She'll be a good find for us down the road; way ahead of where she was last year. She'll keep improving season-by-season," Ley said.
But there are some freshmen capable of cracking the line-up.
"We have some freshmen who are capable. I'm excited to see. One of the things about our freshman in Amelia Evans, Addi Johnson, Zoe Urcadez, Taylor Cherry and Allie Nichols is they were improving at the end of track. They are coming to us on a great curve right now. I'm excited to see what Amelia does. After an hour on the track she was only 80-90 meters behind Emily. We'll see how that translates onto the race course.
"They are super competitive, they like to compete and that's why I like the class that's coming in. They don't settle for anything. They aren't afraid to go head-to-head with their elders. They have no desire to sit and wait. They are going to open doors for themselves by having to be very good," Ley said.
Following Saturday's opener, the teams will have a week off prior to beginning a stretch of three straight meets Sept. 15 at the WCC Preview in Portland, Ore., the Erik Anderson at Plantes Ferry in Spokane and the Bill Dellinger Invitational hosted by the University of Oregon in Springfield, Ore.
Both coaches expect to rest most of their top runners to make certain they are sharp for the Dellinger.
