Gonzaga Women Crack into Top Five
11/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
NEW ORLEANS -- After winning the West Coast Conference team title, the Gonzaga women's cross country team rose to new heights at No. 5 in the latest USTFCCCA West Region ranking Monday. The Zag men climbed to 10th in the latest poll.
The Zag women continue to improve their best-ever regional ranking. In the last poll on Oct. 19, they were seventh, which was the previous program high. GU now matches BYU, fifth in the Mountain Region, for the highest regionally-ranked team in the West Coast Conference.
Saturday, for the first time in 20 years, and only the second time in program history, the Gonzaga women won the West Coast Conference title. The Zags' claimed the 2015 crown, led by a first place individual finish from Shelby Mills.
Gonzaga finished tied with BYU with 59 points, but the Bulldogs won the tiebreaker. The Cougars entered the race ranked 14th in the nation. The Zags were picked fourth in the conference's preseason poll, while BYU was the favorite. Mills became only the second GU runner to ever win a WCC cross country title.
The Bulldog men matched their season-high regional ranking at No. 10. They placed third at the conference championships. The team's 83-point total was the lowest for Gonzaga since 2004's second place finish with 66 points. It was also the first time in nine years that the Zags have scored under 100.
The BYU men remained second in the Mountain Region after claiming the WCC team title. Portland, which placed second Saturday, fell from sixth to eighth in the West Region. San Francisco swapped spots with GU moving from 10th to 12th. St. Mary's climbed into the ranking at No. 14.
The national polls will be released Tuesday. In the last national poll, the fifth-ranked team in the West Region, California, was one spot out of the Top 30.
Gonzaga has a week off before the NCAA West Regionals on Nov. 13. The races return to the Jefferson Golf Course in Seattle, Wash., where the Zag women placed sixth at the Washington Invitational, while the GU men were ninth.
Women's West Region Ranking
Conference | Pvs. | ||
1 | Oregon | Pac-12 | 1 |
2 | Boise State | Mountain West | 2 |
3 | Stanford | Pac-12 | 4 |
4 | Washington | Pac-12 | 3 |
5 | Gonzaga | West Coast | 7 |
6 | Eastern Washington | Big Sky | 6 |
7 | Cal Poly | Big West | 8 |
8 | Arizona State | Pac-12 | 10 |
9 | California | Pac-12 | 5 |
10 | San Francisco | West Coast | 9 |
11 | Loyola Marymount | West Coast | 12 |
12 | UC Santa Barbara | Big West | NR |
13 | Portland | West Coast | 11 |
14 | Arizona | Pac-12 | 14 |
15 | UCLA | Pac-12 | NR |
Men's West Region Ranking
Conference | Pvs. | ||
1 | Stanford | Pac-12 | 7 |
2 | Oregon | Pac-12 | 1 |
3 | Washington | Pac-12 | 5 |
4 | UCLA | Pac-12 | 2 |
5 | Boise State | Mountain West | 3 |
6 | Washington State | Pac-12 | 9 |
7 | California | Pac-12 | 4 |
8 | Portland | West Coast | 6 |
9 | UC Santa Barbara | Big West | 8 |
10 | Gonzaga | West Coast | 12 |
11 | Cal Poly | Big West | 11 |
12 | San Francisco | West Coast | 10 |
13 | Arizona State | Pac-12 | 14 |
14 | St. Mary's (Calif.) | West Coast | NR |
15 | UC Davis | Big West | NR |
