Bergam, Branch Make Statement At Erik Anderson Invite
9/21/2013 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University's Kyle Branch and Lauren Bergam both made a statement Saturday at the Erik Anderson Invitational cross country meet at Plantes Ferry as they paced a strong Bulldog contingent.
Both finished fourth in their respective races, Bergam in 21:56.49 over the 6K women's layout and Branch in 25:46.41 in the 8K men's race.
For Bergam, the East Valley High graduate was running in her backyard as she grew up just minutes away from the course.
"It was awesome for her. We came in here and said it will be her last race at home. She ran very, very well," Gonzaga head women's coach Patty Ley said. "She just got beat by those runners from Lipscomb (University) because they were able to work together that last little bit. It makes a difference. That's what we continue to work on and hopefully we'll get a couple more bodies up there with her pretty soon."
Branch continues to improve and impress his coach.
"Kyle had the race of his life last week in Seattle. Today he executed our team plan well, staying back and helping our pack of young runners to get better so we can find out who we'll need if we don't have some of our injured athletes back for the West Coast Conference," director of cross country and head men's coach Pat Tyson noted. "He ran better than last week, which certainly wasn't our goal, but he was the top jersey Zag today."
Tyson's plan had Branch, Troy Fraley and redshirt Robert Walgren pace the younger runners for the first 4K. Tyson was pleased with the results.
"I think we're getting closer," he said of closing the gap between his top runners and the next pack. "I think Danny Lunder certainly ran better than he did last week. It was a tough one for Matt Crichlow. We really believe in him. He had some breathing issues today."
Fraley, a freshman, finished 10th in 25:59.06. Walgren, running unattached as he is redshirting this season, was third overall in 25:45.39. Lunder finished 16th in 26:12.15. A pack of Zags occupied 23rd to 25th with Ian Goldizen 23rd in 26:28.12, Braeden Van Deynze 24th in 26:30.01 and Crichlow 26th in 26:30.72.
"Troy Fraley is another good example. He's a rookie, held back and did his job," Tyson said. "When he surged he panicked a little bit - a rookie mistake - and went so fast that it took some of the energy out of him for the latter part of the race. Kyle was more patient. Robert was more patient. They ended up being our one-two, although Robert is redshirting. Troy is continually learning. This is so valuable for him that I don't look at it as a bad thing."
Ley saw some improvement.
"We had some gals step up and close it up a little bit. With Katy Culver and Zoë Urcadez holding out, it was nice to see we had some people up. It was a nice little crew in there, and they are so young."
In addition to Bergam, the Zags had three other runners in the top 17. Maggie Jones was 15th in 22:29.93, Taylor Cherry 16th in 22:31.25 and Amelia Evans 17th in 22:34.52. Jones was with the lead pack throughout the early stages of the race.
"It was a little off race for Maggie and Amelia. We know what we're going to fix so it's a little bit of training differently. We should be pretty good. I think back-to-back races may have taken a little toll on Maggie," Ley said.
Tyson had praise for Lipscomb University of Nashville, Tenn., whose men are ranked sixth and the women fifth in the South Region rankings.
"It's interesting. Lipscomb did the same thing as Gonzaga, packed up and had 10-12 guys who held together really well," Tyson said. "When we decided to make our move it wasn't much longer and Lipscomb began to trail apart. They certainly had some mini packs but their 12 went smaller and smaller. We were on the same agenda today. They ran great. This was a very good Lipscomb team. They came here to compete. They ran a great race. We ran well without many of our stars."
Lipscomb beat the Gonzaga men 21-36 and downed the Gonzaga women 17-43. Gonzaga defeated the Washington State University women 15-50.
The Bulldogs, who were running back-to-back races after being in the Sundodger in Seattle last week, get two weeks off prior to heading to the Bill Dellinger Invitational hosted by the University of Oregon.
"Hopefully we can get better at Eugene where we'll have Willie Milam and Nick Roche back in the line-up. Kyle is doing great. Troy is doing great. Danny is doing better. If we can get a Colin O'Neil back or a Brent Felnagle back and get some rust off at Dellinger we'll see. We have two weeks," Tyson said.
Milam and Roche were attending out-of-town weddings Saturday.
"We're working really hard, have a little more really hard work to do and then back off a little bit going into Dellinger and see how they do with that," Ley said of her two-week plan between meets.
