Track Closes the Indoor Season
2/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
RESULTS
SEATTLE - The Gonzaga men's track team wrapped up its indoor season on the second day of the Husky Classic at the Dempsey Indoor Saturday.
Willie Milam placed 16th in the men's mile. The senior crossed the line at 4:02.06. His time was slightly behind his school record of 4:01.67. He came in seventh in his heat. Andy Phillips finished at 4:11.12, placing 12th in his heat and 64th overall. He improved his personal record and still holds the fourth best time in program history. The field included 87 runners. Montana State's Cristian Soratos won the event with a time of 3:55.27.
"Andy was seven seconds off the win," Director of Gonzaga track Pat Tyson said. He ran pretty well early in the tight 15-person race. He seemed to disengage in the middle phase and lost his focus, but he gained valuable experience. Ultimately, the lesson for him was ‘stay in the zone' and ‘find purpose.
"Willie had a tough starting position in a more tactical race. There was a wall of great runners in front of Willie going out the gate. He ran past five runners over last 300 meters. Although not a sub 4:00, Willie ran a giant of a competitive race. He was less than 1.5 seconds from the win. Not bad doing very little peak interval workouts, as we are saving that for outdoors."
Troy Fraley finished the men's 3,000 meters with a time of 8:17.20. He placed 19th overall and seventh in his heat. His personal record of 8:16.01 is the second fastest time in program history.
Robert Walgren was not far behind at 8:25.30. He placed sixth in his heat and 32nd overall. Conor McCandless had a time of 8:30.78, which was 14th in his heat. The 51-runner field was topped by Boise State's Michael Vennard at 8:09.50.
"Troy ran brave, Tyson said. "He put himself in a position to win and he went for it. Conor had a good start. He hasn't run a race like this for two years as he is finally injury free. Robert ran conservative, but closed well. He needed to engage close to the front. Still, a solid performance as he too has come off an injury."
The Bulldogs return to the track for their outdoor season, beginning March 19 at the Buc Scoring meet hosted by Whitworth University in Spokane. The meet runs two days.
