Tradition-Rich Bill Dellinger Invite Next For Gonzaga
10/4/2013 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University's men's and women's cross country teams will get their most competitive test of the season Saturday at the Bill Dellinger Invitational hosted by the University of Oregon.
The meet will be held at Springfield Country Club with the men running an 8K at 10:30 a.m. and the women a 5K at 11:15 a.m.
For Gonzaga director of cross country and head men's coach Pat Tyson, the Willamette Valley is a homecoming of sorts for the University of Oregon alum who was coached by the man whose name the event bears.
"This is a pretty special venue in the Eugene area. He was my coach at Oregon and is still one of my best friends," Tyson said of Dellinger. "I think it's an honor for Gonzaga to go down and compete in a venue that is named after one of the legendary coaches in our sport in distance running."
Both Tyson and Gonzaga head women's coach Patty Ley said this will be the toughest regular-season meet on the Gonzaga schedule. The field includes regionally-ranked Oregon (1st men's poll/2nd women's poll), University of Portland (2/10), Boise State University (6/8) University of Washington (7/3), and the University of Idaho, 14th in the women's rankings and unranked in the men's balloting.
Oregon is ranked fourth nationally while Portland is eighth in the latest men's Top 30, while Oregon is fifth and Washington seventh on the women's side.
The Bulldog men are ranked 13th for the second straight week in the Far West region.
"There is no doubt the Bill Dellinger will be the most competitive. It will simulate the West Coast Conference because BYU and Portland being in the Top 10 ranked in the polls, the next best meet for us is the Dellinger. Oregon is ranked in the top five, Portland is in there and is one of the top ranked teams and you can't forget Washington in the top eight in the West. They beat us earlier in the Sundodger. Boise State is another team in the Top 10 in the West, so there are four or five teams in the top 10 in the West region," Tyson noted.
Ley said the field is by far the toughest test for the Zags.
"Far and away over the last few years, and potentially historically, it's the best competitive regular-season contest we've ever been at. There are several regionally-ranked teams coming in and it's a lot deeper than it's been in the past. We've talked the last few years about putting ourselves in position to go to the big meets. It's worked out well. We went to Dellinger last year, and this year it's an even better meet. We got lucky with the calendar that it fell that way. On paper it looks like it will be a fantastic meet and be a great chance to test ourselves and learn some things."
Tyson said Gonzaga's ranking "is just paper, but it shows a little bit of respect by your peers. We know on a given day we can be higher or we can be lower. When you are out recruiting, a lot of athletes want to see where we are. We are a notable team on the rise and it shows respect."
The Bulldog men are still ravished with injury, but Tyson is pleased with how the depth of the team has stepped up. But a couple more runners must continue to get better.
"We haven't had a break, no pun intended," Tyson said of the injuries. "It's so unusual. But the cool thing by carrying such a large roster is we have depth. But we are now relying on young guys again to step it up a notch. Our top four looks pretty solid but they have been battling colds the last week. Willie Milam and Kyle Branch have battled colds but are okay now. Nick Roche has looked very good and our freshman Troy Fraley is as solid as ever. Danny Lunder has been a great number five guy and we didn't expect him to be number five. We figured he might be battling for the top dozen spots but right now he is there.
"Now we're calling on a few other guys to step it up; guys like Ian Goldizen, Braeden Van Deynze, Andy Phillips, Matthew Crichlow and others. We need five. What we do is add up our top five against everybody else's top five and you add up the score and whoever has the lowest score is top gun. Our goal is to get as low a score as possible and do things that will give us confidence for the West Coast Conference one month from this Saturday."
Ley, meanwhile, is encouraging the ladies to take a few risks.
"We're looking at taking some risks, seeing where we really do stack up with some of those West Region teams. Trying to mix it up. If we are a team that down the road is looking to compete ultimately for a WCC championship what does that take? That means mixing it up with some people. USF (University of San Francisco) is really strong, BYU looks really strong. This is a good dress rehearsal going in," Ley said of this week's competition.
Once again she will stress to keep the pack closer together, closing the gap between the fourth and fifth runners.
"I'm looking for a good pack, staying pretty tight together. I'd like to see our top seven with a 30-40 second spread. At the Erik Anderson we had taken out two of our potential top five and they had a spread of about 40 seconds in the top five. We're looking to keep that tight, putting them in kind of the top 30 or better range. They have to learn, as a pack, they have to run in groups of threes. If they can do that then they can do some pretty good damage," Ley explained.
Ley is getting one runner back but is losing another for at least this week.
Lara Tuthill, sidelined all season, will see her first action of the fall. But Maggie Jones won't compete as she wasn't feeling well Friday.
"Lara is back and running. We're trying not to advance too quickly. She's still doing some cross training. She did a great job when she was cross training so she is relatively fit, but has to get back to running fitness. We're doing a pretty good job with that. She will run and we're going to see what we can get. I would like a great 4K at least and if we get a great 5K that's just icing on the cake. We want to get her back to what it's like to race," Ley said.
Ley said "Lauren Bergam has looked great the last couple of weeks. Maggie and Amelia (Evans) are struggling a little bit with illness. It's a little bit Lauren and then you see a pack with Maggie, Amelia, Taylor Cherry has made a big move up, Katy Culver, and Zoë Urcadez is back and healthy. Over the last couple of weeks Shelly Davis has made a huge step up so would love to see some awesome things from her. Alison Fraher has been right in there. Even without Maggie they could be a pack within about 10 seconds of each other."
