Sunnyvale, Calif. - As the sun burnt through the marine layer at Baylands Park, the Gonzaga women opened their invitational campaign with a 5th place finish at the WCC Preview meet. Conference rivals Loyola Marymount, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Pepperdine and Pacific were joined by Nevada and Cal Poly among others to form a fine early season field. The course narrowed after 400m causing a bit of a bottle neck that left 6 of the 7 Zags slightly back of an ideal position. The exception, Amelia Evans, had placed herself in the top 6 or 7, the lone blue jersey in a sea of white and green of LMU and USF. Evans would continue to stay in that pack, even striding with the leader through the mile and a half point. From there she would fall slightly back into third where until the straight where she would slip back to fifth. "Amelia ran an excellent race, showing the work done this summer to put herself in the position to be able to challenge for a top 10 spot in the WCC Championship later this fall," said head women's cross country coach Patty Ley. The remainder of the women's team, led by Shelby Mills, began a steady move through the field. Freshman Jordan Thurston made the biggest improvement closing to within just a few seconds of Mills at the finish. The last two scorers for the Zags were Erin Bergmann, resurgent after two years of injury, and Zoe Urcadez showing she can move up from 1500 meters. LMU finished first with 39 points followed by USF (51) and Cal Ploy (70). Nevada (116) and Gonzaga (120) rounded out the top five. The Zags hit the trails next on September 20th at the Eric Anderson Invitational held at Plantes Ferry in Spokane.