MADISON, Wis. – The 23rd-ranked Gonzaga men's cross country team placed 26th for the second straight year at the Nuttycombe Invitational on Friday at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. The event played host to 22 of the nation's Top 30 teams, including 2022 NCAA Champion Northern Arizona and Top Five finishers BYU, Stanford, and Wake Forest.
"By far the biggest race of the season other than the NCAA Championships in November, and Wil (Smith) may be in a great place to earn First Team All-American," head coach
Pat Tyson said. "He may be the best Gonzaga runner to compete at Nuttycombe in program history".
THE RACE
Wil Smith led the way for the Zags with a ninth place finish, just nine seconds behind Harvard's Graham Blanks, who climbed eight spots on the leaderboard in the final 2,000 meters to earn the individual title with a time of 23:23.4. Smith's time of 23:32.5 placed him securely in the Top 10, and Gonzaga's 592 team points earned victories over 19th-ranked Florida State and 27th-ranked NC State. In addition, GU (No. 3 in the West Region) bested region foes Washington (5th in the West Region) and Portland (4th in the West Region).
"We came out here without a couple of our big runners in Evan (Bates) and Kyle (Radosevich), but still competed and beat a few teams. We had a little toughness talk afterwards, and the bottom line is we have to find another way."
Bryce Cerkowniak placed 109th with a time of 24:24.6, and
Drew Kolodge took 121st with a time of 24:28.9.
Cooper Laird (167th, 24:49.1) and
Paul Talens (193rd, 25:00.0), rounded out the point-scoring for the Bulldogs.
Michael Maiorano (239th, 25:22.4),
Ansel Tucker (253rd, 25:45.6) and
Riley Moore (260th, 25:56.5) completed Gonzaga's roster of attached runners for the event.
"We realized the value that a healthy squad brings to an event like this one," Tyson said. "Credit to Bryce (Cerkowniak) and Drew (Kolodge), they battled. Cooper was solid for our fourth man, coming in and needing to step up from a potential seventh or eighth man."
Team Champion and No. 1 overall ranked Northern Arizona was the only squad with two runners in the Top 10 as Nico Young and Drew Bosley led the Lumberjacks to a 76 point finish. No. 3 BYU placed second with 162 points, and No. 6 Syracuse knocked off No. 4 Wisconsin and No. 5 North Carolina to secure a third place finish.
UP NEXT
The Zags' busy weekend continues Saturday as the women take their top runners to the Bronco Invite in Santa Clara, Calif. The 6K race is set to start at 9:30am. Additionally, GU will take runners to Lewiston, Idaho for the Inland Empire Classic. The women's 5K will begin at 9:30am on Saturday before the men's 8K right after at 10:30am.
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FULL RESULTS
