Men's XC Falls to Navy in Unique Dual Meet
9/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
SPOKANE, Wash.—Taking part in its first dual meet since 2011, the Gonzaga University men's cross country squad fell 23-36 in a head-to-head matchup with Navy Saturday at Plantes Ferry in Spokane, Wash.
"Both teams really wanted this one," said Gonzaga head coach Pat Tyson. "The Zags ran their hearts out, and I know that Navy gave it their all. Obviously it was our goal to beat Navy, but I am still proud of the way our young men competed."
The field of 24 runners kept together through the first 4,000 meters of the 8k race, and the pack started to spread out with 3,000 left. At that point, five Midshipmen and two Gonzaga runners—Robert Walgren and Troy Fraley—pushed the pace to create a lead pack.
Around the 6k mark, Walgren and Navy's Stephen Schroeder picked up the tempo further to separate themselves from the others. Six hundred meters later, Schroeder surged ahead and hung on for the win, finishing six seconds faster than Walgren with a time of 25:04.25.
Walgren took second with a mark of 25:10.72 while Fraley finished less than a second later to give the Zags two of the dual's top three finishers. Four Midshipmen came in before the next Bulldog, however, as Kyle Branch finished eighth with a time of 25:33.71.
Two more Navy runners finished in ninth and 10th, and but Colin O'Neil took 11th for Gonzaga. The Bulldogs' final scorer, Danny Lunder finished 14th with a run of 25:59.15
Navy won the dual with 23 points, all of their scoring runners finishing in the top seven. Gonzaga also tallied five points from its first two runners but counted more from the third, fourth, and fifth spots to finish with 36 points.
"We can now take a couple days to recover and get ready for our biggest invitational in Gonzaga history, Notre Dame, in two weeks," said Tyson. "Our goal is to keep learning about ourselves and our abilities; to gain confidence, to know we can evolve into a very competitive team. We still have six weeks until the conference championships. That is where we want to peak."
The Gonzaga men's cross country squad is back in action Friday, Oct. 3, when the Zags head to South Bend, Ind., for the Notre Dame Invitational. That race will begin at 2:00 p.m. Pacific on Notre Dame Golf Course.
