SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University's men's and women's track teams will compete in the Buc Scoring Invite Thursday and Friday at Whitworth University.
While most of the Thursday competition centers on the heptathlon and decathlon, the Bulldogs will have Emily Thomas, Taylor Cherry and Emily Albrecht entered in the women's 5000 meters at 5 p.m.
Thomas, who qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Meet in the 10,000 meters, will make her spring debut after missing last weekend's opener while attending an academic conference.
Saturday's schedule is a little heavier for the Zags.
"A majority of our team will be featured in the 1500 meters Friday," Gonzaga head coach Pat Tyson said. "We want to see as many women under 4:50 as possible and our top runners chasing the school record of 4:31.08 set by Catherine Theobald last spring.
Lindsey Drake, who missed last spring's outdoor season with an injury, will make her outdoor debut in the 800 meters and, if all goes well, in the 1600 meter Saturday. Drake was scratched at the last minute in the opener as she was unable to go after injuring an ankle earlier in the week in training.
Tyson is doing double duty this week in taking over the women as assistant coach Patty Ley, who normally handles the women, is away on a national team assignment.
On the men's side, Tyson is also stacking the deck.
"We've entered 19 runners in the 1500 meters," Tyson said.
Tyson said Lewis-Clark State College has entered Dave Marks (3:53.65) and Sam Atkin (3:54.34) to take on Gonzaga school record holder Brent Felnagle (3:52.27).
"Our mission is a boat load under 3:55," Tyson said of the goal in site.
The Bulldogs opened the outdoor season last week at the Dusty Lane Open at Spokane Falls Community College, giving the Bulldogs back-to-back weeks of competition. But that's not of grave concern to Tyson.
"It's a good thing if you do it right, if you mix it up. I've never been one to try to do the same old event. For instance, it's not a good idea to come back with the steeplechase. I've seen that happen with athletes where they are steepling all year. The steeple is like running a 10,000, it takes awhile to come back with all the jolting. Until you are really seasoned with it, you have to learn how to do it. Maybe like a tripleheader - a quarterfinal, a semifinal and a final.
"It's a little like high school, you have a dual and an invitational each week. We're only going once a week. We're not running 8000 meters, we're not running 10,000 meters. These guys that ran the 5000 we'll put back in the 1500 to give them a little speed work. It's good to mix it up. That's the norm in college," Tyson noted.
The Bulldogs will send as many as 15 runners to the Stanford Invitational or San Francisco State Distance Carnival next week.
