MALIBU, Calif. - Willie Milam turned in his best West Coast Conference Cross Country Championship effort Saturday as the Gonzaga University senior finished ninth in a school record 23:46 to help the Bulldog men finish fourth with 112 points, just two points behind Loyola Marymount University for third.

Milam broke the school 8K WCC Championship record of 24:12 set last season by Tate Kelly at Fernhill Park in Portland, Ore. Milam earned All-WCC accolades with his top 10 finish, the first Zag to earn the honor since Chris Boyle finished fourth in 2010. The top 10 runners earn All-WCC while the next five earn honorable mention.

The Gonzaga women also scored 112 points behind senior Lauren Bergam's 11^th-place finish in 21:35 over the 6K layout as she earned WCC honorable mention for the second straight season. The Bulldogs finished fifth in the team standings, the University of San Francisco taking a fifth straight title with 39 points.

Bergam was competing in her third and final WCC Championship, finishing 15^th a year ago in 21:10 in Portland and taking 23^rd in 22:24 in 2010 at Crystal Springs Golf Course in Belmont, Calif.

Nick Roche finished 19^th in 24:28, Matthew Crichlow was 26^th in 25:08, Kyle Branch 27^th in 25:14 and Troy Fraley 31^st in 25:57 to complete Gonzaga's top five men's scorers.

Milam, the only member of this year's Zag contingent with WCC Championship experience, was 38^th a year ago in 25:21 in Portland and finished 29^th in 25:55 in 2011 at Crystal Springs Golf Course.

"It was a beautiful day in Malibu with a pool of dolphins jumping out beyond the course, but you can't say the Zags are jumping around," Gonzaga director of cross country and head men's coach Pat Tyson said of the setting next to the Pacific Ocean. "They came so close to reaching their goal. It certainly would have been a lot more jovial to have two points the other the way."

But Tyson was jumping around over Milam's performance.

"Willie became the first Zag to finish in less than 24 minutes in the WCC Championship. He was really great mixing it up well with the BYU guys. He would have been the fifth guy for BYU today and the third guy for Portland so that's a pretty good accomplishment. He was in that four-to-nine mix all day and he definitely wasn't losing ground.

"His single-digit didn't hurt our team score. He beat Weston Strum of LMU who was ranked much higher. He did his part for the team," Tyson said.

Nick Roche was in the mix early with Milam prior to dropping back a little, and Colin O'Neil, back in action just three weeks following a season-long injury, fell victim to the weather.

"Roche was in the mix early and working together with Willie. We closed the gap, we just didn't close the gap enough," Tyson said. "Colin went into heat stroke mode and began to wobble over last 200 meters. He was ahead of Kyle Branch (Gonzaga's fourth runner). It was pretty warm today."

BYU won for the second time in three seasons, accruing 30 points and paced by individual champion Jason Witt who won in 23:14 as he and the University of San Francisco's Eric Causey were both timed in 23:14 in a close finish.

The University of Portland, which had its streak of 32 straight WCC men's championships snapped in 2011 by BYU, finished second with 48 points. BYU is ranked fifth nationally with Portland sixth.

Following Bergam across the finish line were Maggie Jones in 18^th in 21:54, Amelia Evans 25^th in 22:13, Taylor Cherry 27^th in 22:27 and Katy Culver 31^st in 22:35 to round out Gonzaga's top five women's scorers. Bergam is the only Zag runner of the nine who participated in the WCC Championship who does not return to the team next season.

Jones was 29^th a year ago in 21:35 while Evans was 33^rd in 21:58, and Jones placed 23^rd in 2011 in 22:20. Lara Tuthill, 39^th Saturday in 22:57, was also in her third WCC Championship, finishing 39^th a year ago in 22:18 and 46^th in 2010 in 23:34.

"Lauren ran great. She knew where she was, and moved up from 14^th to 11^th. She was up there with a good group of athletes," Gonzaga head women's coach Patty Ley said. "Maggie was bouncing around in that 15-20 spot. It was a better day for her. Amelia ran well in 25^th. It was good to see them feel stronger and get a much stronger race. Against the field they raced pretty well."

USF, ranked 17^th nationally, had its five scorers finish in the top 14 to easily out-distance the University of Portland and BYU with 62 points each, and Loyola Marymount University with 79 points.

The Bulldogs will now prepare for the NCAA Western Regional in Sacramento, Calif., set for Friday, Nov. 15.

While the WCC Championship is nine runners per team, the regional is just seven. Tyson and Ley each said they will take their top seven finishers from Saturday.

"Now we have to come back and have some pride. It's exciting to be there. Today stings little bit, but it's not a bad thing. If you took it too lightly maybe you're not a very good competitor. We have higher goals and aspirations and we want to finish the season with pride and say we did a fantastic job," Tyson said.

Ley sees the regional as another chance to get better.

"Going to regional we get another good race. Lauren is still getting better. Regional will be deeper than last year, so we're caught in that," Ley said of her relatively young squad. "We had a good pack today; it just wasn't quite far enough up there. But this is a good group and they made a big jump. Regional gives us another chance to get better going into next season."