Cross Country to Stanford for NCAA West Regional
11/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Meet Central | Live Results
SPOKANE, Wash. - The Gonzaga men's and women's cross country teams will face their stiffest test of the season on Friday at the NCAA West Regional at Stanford. The women's race will begin at 11 a.m., followed by the men at 12 p.m.
The 6,000-meter women's event and 10,000-meter men's event will both take place on the Stanford Golf Course. The Gonzaga women will start in Box 9 of 38 teams, and the men will be in box 24 of 35 teams.
The GU women, led by All-West Coast Conference First Team performers Shelby Mills and Amelia Evans, are coming of a fifth-place finish at the league championship. Mills was seventh overall, followed by Evans in 10th at the league meet. That pair has been at the front of the GU pack for much of the season, but continued improvement from the Zags' 3-4-5 runners has head coach Patty Ley feeling confident about the race.
"We had a good break between WCCs and regionals, and I think we're about as close to 100 percent as you can be at this point in the season," Ley said. "I like the way Shelby and Amelia have looked in practice this week, and I'm seeing good confidence in others. Laura Tuthill has had a great week of practice so I'm excited to see what she can do, and Zoe Urcadez looks good as well. Others seem to be getting stronger too, so I think we're in a good place going into the weekend."
At the conference meet, Erin Bergmann stepped up as the Zags' No. 3 runner, placing 31st, just ahead of Jordan Thurston and Zoe Urcadez, who were 32nd and 34th. With that group and the depth coming from Tuthill and Olivia Evans, the Zags are poised to make some big strides.
On the men's side, head coach Pat Tyson's squad will look to improve on an 11th-place finish from the West Region meet in 2013. Led by a 15th-place finish from senior Nick Roche two weeks ago at the WCC championship, the Zags are coming off a third-place finish in the league. Against regional powerhouse Portland and WCC foe BYU, the Zags felt good about their team finish, but not satisfied with their performance.
"I think we were solid at the WCCs, but we didn't close the gap as much as I would have liked," Tyson said. "We've got some talented veterans on this team and a lot of experience to make some noise this week."
That experience lies in six of Gonzaga's seven runners competing in at least their second West Region meet. The only one who hasn't, Danny Lunder, has been in the WCC championship two times.
Behind Roche, Troy Fraley has been the next most consistent runner for the Zags, and after that a combination of Robert Walgren, Colin O'Neil and Kyle Branch are all capable of bringing the GU pack up to the front. Fraley and Branch were 21st and 22nd at the league meet, while Lunder and O'Neil were 25th and 26th.
"Fraley, Walgren and O'Neil are all capable of running up with Roche," Tyson said. "They just need to pack up and ace their day. It's a longer race so it's five to six minutes more of engaging and tuning in to the race."
Meet information and the course map can be found here, and the live results and entries can be found here.
