Spokane, Wash. – The Gonzaga men's and women's cross country teams concluded their regular season with a sweep at the Sasquatch Open on the Polo Grounds of the Spokane Polo Club on Wednesday. This marks the fifth time that GU has won both races at this event dating back to 2004. The men have never lost, and the women placed second twice to go along with their five wins.
THE WOMEN
Kate Donaldson was the leading scorer for the Zag women in the 5K race. She led the entire way and finished 14 seconds ahead of the field with a time of 18:20.3 on the snowy Polo Grounds. Donaldson was the first of seven straight Gonzaga finishes.
Jorun Downing came in behind her with a time of 18:34.8, and
Olivia Laurance placed third, crossing in 18:39.6.
Olivia Ferraro was fourth at 18:52.0, and
Jasmine Nguyen placed fifth (19:02.0) to secure the Bulldogs' 15 team points.
Camille Broadbent (Sixth, 19:09.3) and
Olivia Hobbs (19:11.1) rounded out the first seven spots on the leaderboard, all occupied by GU runners.
Anika Jones' ninth place (19:19.1) and
Bailee Carr's tenth place (19:23.4) totaled the nine Gonzaga runners who cracked the Top-10. The Zags also placed 11th-13th as
Paige Trautman (11th, 19:27.3),
Elizabeth Brands (12th, 19:31.3), and
Kate Ferrell (13th, 19:33.5) crossed the finish line next.
Jillian Greene (17th, 19:42.8),
Catherine Vlach (20th, 19:55.2), and
Molly McGeoy (22nd, 19:59.2) completed GU's attached participants.
Gonzaga earned 15 team points while securing the first seven spots, beating crosstown rival Eastern Washington (59 points). It's the fourth team victory of the season for the 28th-ranked women.
THE MEN
Sam Geiger paced the Zag men in the 8K race with a first place finish of 24:38.6. The redshirt sophomore also led for the entirety of the race.
Carp Mukai was the next GU attached runner, placing third with a time of 24:49.2.
Nick Braz cracked the Top Five with a fifth place finish of 24:55.7.
Aidan Baughan broke 25 minutes with a sixth place time of 24:56.8, and
Nicky DiMartino placed ninth (25:08.8) to round out the point-getters for Gonzaga. DiMartino was one of five Zag runners in the Top Ten.
Mason Kissell (12th, 25:19.6) and
Caleb Richardson (13th, 25:20.8) claimed back-to-back placements, joined by
Will Thorsett (17th, 25:35.0),
Sean Janecko (19th, 25:42.4), and
Tommy O'Neil (20th, 25:50.3) all cracking the Top 20.
Charles Martinez (22nd, 25:59.4) and
Luke Alfonso (23rd, 25:59.7) raced across the line at the same time, and
James Powers (41st, 27:20.5) rounded out Gonzaga's roster of attached runners.
The men were one point shy of a perfect score to match the women, as Eastern Oregon's Justin Ash's seventh place finish earned him five points. The 16-point effort marks the Bulldog men's fourth win of the season.
UP NEXT
The meet marks the end of the regular season for both squads. The teams will head to Malibu, Calif. for the West Coast Conference Championships on Saturday at Alumni Park on Pepperdine's campus. The meet will feature the conference's top runners before looking ahead to the NCAA West Regionals in two weeks. The women's race kicks off at 10 a.m., followed by the men's race at 11 a.m.
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FULL RESULTS
