Zags place 3 in top 5, but fall short to Oregon at Bill Dellinger Invite...
The Zags placed three runners in the top five over the 8k course at Pine Ridge Golf Club, with Yacine Guemali (Paul Merca photo) leading the charge in third at 23:12, followed by US Olympic Trials qualifier James Mwaura in fourth in 23:17, and Wil Smith in fifth at 23:26.
Kyle Radosevich finished 19th in 23:38, and Cullen McEachern was the final Gonzaga scorer in 32nd at 23:54.
Oregon runners went 1-2 with NCAA 5000 meter champ Cooper Teare winning in 23:06, and Aaron Bienenfeld second in 23:07.
The Ducks' other scorers finished 11th, 17th & 26th to give them the win by a count of 57 to Gonzaga's 63 points.
Washington State finished seventh with 182 points, led by Brian Barsaiya in eighth at 23:52, and Amir Ado in 12th at 23:35.
Gonzaga men's head coach Pat Tyson said afterwards, "It was a great effort. I mean, any time you're knocking at the door of a perennial long distance running program and pushing them, that's exciting."
"I thought the kids ran a near perfect race — bunching up early for the most part with smart movement, just helping each other out."
In the women's team race, the Washington State women finished tenth of 17 teams with a score of 279 points as unranked Utah won with a score of 38 points to upend five nationally ranked teams.
Alaina Stone Boggs was the Cougars' first runner across the line in 20th at 20:33 over the 6k course. The Washington State duo of Neema Kimtai and Caroline Jerotich, who were the team leaders at the Cougar Classic two weeks ago, finished 38th and 70th, respectively, crossing the finish in 20:53, and 21:16.
Pia Richards was 68th in 21:16, and Zorana Grujic was WSU's fifth scorer in 105th at 21:53.
Izzy Thornton-Bott, competing unattached, won the race in 20:05.
Complete results of the Bill Dellinger Invitational are available here.
GONZAGA WOMEN & WESTERN WASHINGTON MEN HEAD TO MINNESOTA FOR ROY GRIAK, WHILE EASTERN WASHINGTON GOES TO MONMOUTH FOR MIKE JOHNSON CLASSIC...
In yesterday's preview of the Bill Dellinger Invitational, we said that the Gonzaga women would join their male counterparts in Springfield.
Turns out that the Zags made a schedule change, opting instead to go to St. Paul to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational at the Les Bolstad Golf Course, hosted by the University of Minnesota.
Gonzaga will be part of a 19-team Gold 6k field that includes Iowa State, Michigan State and host Minnesota, which gets underway at 9:15 am, Pacific time.
Both Western Washington squads will run in the Maroon sections of the Griak Invitational, which consists of several nationally ranked Division II and III squads.
The men's Maroon 8k gets underway at 10 am, Pacific, while the women's Maroon 6k race starts at 10:45 am, Pacific.
The link to live results for the Roy Griak Invitational is available here.
Meanwhile, Eastern Washington heads to Monmouth to run in the Mike Johnson Classic, hosted by Western Oregon Friday afternoon, with the women's 6k starting at 5 pm, and the men's 8k underway at 5:45 pm.
The field consists primarily of Division II and III schools with a few community college squads sprinkled in for good measure.
Portland and Portland State are the only other NCAA Division I schools with teams entered in the race.
The link to live results is available here.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Gonzaga, Washington State, Minnesota, and Eastern Washington contributed to this report.
paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links.
Comments