COLUMBIA, MO.- Gonzaga Men's Cross Country continued to improve on their season best times when they took on the Gans Creek Classic on Friday morning.
Running on the course that will host the NCAA Championship, the Zags faced off against a field that included 19 ranked teams. Bulldog cross country gave a great account of itself, nearly knocking off a couple ranked teams, finishing right behind Ole Miss (#25) and Furman (#28), finishing less 75 points behind both teams in a field with over 240 runners.
The race unfolded well for the Zags, as they moved up in the results every kilometer, including moving up a spot in each of the last 2 kilometers. Bryce Cerkowniak impressed with a 23:34.9 time in the 8k race, finishing in the top 75 in the elite race. He was joined by Logan Law, who finished with a time of 23:40.5. The scoring top 5 was rounded out by Paul Talens, Will Thorsett, and Ryan Mitchell, all of whom finished within ten second of each other.
The Zags finished ahead of four other teams that received votes in the USTFCCCA national rankings, establishing themselves as a team to watch as attention turns towards regional competitions. GU finished ahead of Portland, already outperforming the conference preseason poll and indicating that the Bulldogs will be a major force to consider in the WCC Championship, which will be hosted in Spokane on November.
The Zags put together a good performance on the national stage, and coach Pat Tyson sees this as a key building block for the rest of the season: "The boys executed well today, I'm sure they were hoping to knock off a couple ranked teams but they came really close and the team score went down every K. Keep getting fitter and racing the same way and they'll be fighting for a spot at nationals this year. Hope the boys are happy but hungry after today!"
The 2025 NCAA Cross Country Championships will be run at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course, giving the teams that were in attendance this weekend the chance to have their top athletes adjust to the course before they hope to return there in late November. The route back for the Zags runs through Sacramento, where the NCAA West Championships are scheduled to be run on November 14th.
Gonzaga cross country will have two meets next week, as the women's cross country team will travel to Chicago to take on the Lakefront Invitational on October 3rd, while men's cross country will return to Washington when they take on the Whitman Invitational in Walla Walla on the 4th.
The full results from the Gans Creek Classic can be found here.
