Track Competes Locally this Weekend
4/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
SPOKANE, Wash. - After splitting their squads between three locations last weekend, the Gonzaga women's men's track teams will have all of their student-athletes in one location, just a few miles from campus.
The Zags will take on the some of the region's best at the eighth annual Northwest Scoring Clash, or Washington versus the Region (WAR VIII) at Spokane Falls Community College. The yearly event that continues to build momentum welcomes programs from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
"Meet director Larry Beatty does such a great job in promoting the atmosphere with music and great energy," Gonzaga Director of Track Pat Tyson said. "A record 20 teams are going to be in attendance. We are really excited to have our distance runners be a part of the venue. We will use this meet to have some fun.
"Those coming back from Stanford and San Francisco State will not specialize but run, for the most part, a different distance event to keep some variety in their racing schedule. The younger runners are attempting to show us coaches they deserve to make a road trip to storied Hayward Field next weekend in Eugene."
The Community Colleges of Spokane, Central Washington, Northwest University, Gonzaga, Saint Martin's, Seattle University, Trinity, Washington State, Everett Community College, Whitman, and Whitworth will unite and score against Carroll College (Mont.), Eastern Oregon, Treasure Valley Community College (Ore.), Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), Northwest Nazarene (Idaho), University of Great Falls (Mont.), and Montana State Billings.
Forty-eight Bulldogs will represent GU. Gonzaga is coming off arguably its best night in program history in the Bay Area last Friday. Jessica Mildes, Shelby Mills, Troy Fraley, and Willie Milam all broke school records at either the Stanford Invitational or the San Francisco State Distance Carnival.
Mills bested her personal record of 10:41.61 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:28.22. Fraley then topped his PR by 21 seconds with a time of 8:56.23. At Stanford, Milam raced to a 13:53.74 finish in the 5,000 meters, while Mildes raced to a 33:40.82 in the 10,000 meters. Following their performances, Milam and Mildes both qualified for the NCAA West Prelims.
"I Learned a lot about Jess," GU women's head coach Patty Ley said. "I knew she was competitive and tough, but it was exciting to see how disciplined she remained, and then how smoothly she accelerated at the end of the race. Each of the last four laps was progressively faster culminating with a 72. This is tough to learn how to do and I have to give a lot of credit to her previous coaches for teaching her how to do that.
"Shelby was just awesome as well! So very controlled and she was actually a little disappointed in her time. I am really pleased with our progress this season and excited to see what unfolds over the next couple of weeks."
Milam is currently 13th in the west region in the 5,000 meters, while Fraley is 15th in the steeplechase. Mills and Mildes are both ninth after their outstanding times last weekend.
"We are savoring the fact we may have five qualifiers for NCAA West Regional," Tyson said. "I've had some fantastic moments, and this is one of them. That kind of success brings so much positive to our program. We are hoping recruits are taking notice. Gonzaga is on the move, and we are on fire! I know our coaching staff and all of our men and women student athletes are energized by the success of this past weekend."
The meet begins for Gonzaga with the men's 10,000 meters on Friday at 7 p.m. The Zags will be represented by Max Kaderabek, Kellen Manley, Jack Pearce, Dillon Quintana, Ben Stout, and Nick Roche in the race. The first section of the women's 5,000 meters opens Saturday's action at 9 a.m. Erin Bergmann, Megan Chucka, Christina Tyson, Zoe Urcadez, and Christina Winters are scheduled to be in the event.
