Zags open cross country season with sweep at Clash of the Inland Northwest meet...
Friday was a busy day for four of the state's Division I schools as the teams took advantage of good weather on the first official day of competition of the 2023 NCAA cross country season.
In Cheney, the Gonzaga Bulldogs (above/photo courtesy Gonzaga Athletics) easily swept the field at the Clash of the Inland Northwest meet held on the soccer and recreation fields at Eastern Washington University.
The men's squad, which entered the day ranked number 30 in the USTFCCCA Division I pre-season poll, swept the six-team field, scoring a perfect 15, with the top six scorers finishing within a second.
Wil Smith got credit for the win over the 6k course in 18:33, which was the same time that Bryce Cerkowniak, Evan Bates, and Kyle Radosevich were clocked.
Drew Kolodge and Riley Moore finished fifth and sixth in 18:34, while Noah Hasselblad of Eastern Washington was the only non-Gonzaga runner in the top ten, finishing seventh in 18:37.
The Zags had a 1-second 1-5 split, and a 7 second 1-7 split. While it's too early in the season, Gonzaga appears to be a legitimate contender for the West Coast Conference crown, which according to the USTFCCCA pollsters, goes through number 9 Portland.
Eastern Washington has some work to do to close the gap from frontrunner Hasselblad, as Jesus Herrejon was the next Eagle across the line in 22nd at 19:03, followed by Cam McChesney at 19:05 in 24th. John Hoffer (19:21) in 32nd, and Jamie Christner (19:29) in 38th rounded out Eastern's scorers.
The Eagles ended up third with a final score of 70, finishing behind Idaho's 61.
In the women's 4k, freshman Jessica Frydenlund of the Zags took the win in 13:49, 16 seconds ahead of Alicia Anderson. Alexi Fogo was third in 14:16, and Brittney Hansen was fourth in the same time. Anna Grabowski was sixth in 14:21 to close out Gonzaga's scorers.
Kaylin Sheley (7th, 14:23) and Nattie Ruzauskas (9th, 14:27) led the way for Eastern Washington. Lilly Fetzer (16th, 14:40), Ellie Linnenburger (17th, 14:41), and Jenni Bissell (19, 14:51) rounded out the Eagle scorers, as they finished second with 59 points to team champ Gonzaga's 16.
Complete results of the Clash of the Inland Northwest are available here.
In McMinnville, Oregon, Seattle University placed three runners in the top 20 in the women's 4k at the Linfield Harrier Classic at Joe Dancer Park.
Azalea Groleau (8th, 13:58), and Emily Harris (10th, 14:08) led the way for the Redhawks over the 4k course, with Lillian Hargreaves (13th, 14:14) finishing inside the top 20.
Oregon's Katie Clute took the win in 13:27, while number 20 Oregon State took the team title with 36 points to the number 10 ranked Ducks, who scored 40.
SeattleU finished third with 77, while Portland was fourth at 88.
Yonas Sauers was the only Redhawk to finish inside the top 20 in the men's 6k, finishing 14th in 18:38.
Elliott Cook of 15th ranked Oregon took the win in 18:18, but number 9 Portland took the team title with 23 points, ahead of the Ducks' 41.
SeattleU was a distant fourth with 124 points, behind NAIA Corban University's 98.
In Colfax, Kelvin Limo took the win at the Washington State Alumni Open meet at the Colfax Golf Club over the 6k course in essentially an intrasquad meet, with a few alums sprinkled in.
Limo finished in a time of 17:25.
The women's race was won by Neeme Kimtai in 13:26 over 4k.
Washington was the only Division I school not competing this week. The Huskies started practice on Tuesday, and will open their season on September 23rd at the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Virginia on this year's NCAA championship course.
DIVISION II OPENS SATURDAY...
Western Washington, Central Washington, and Seattle Pacific all open their season Saturday in Lakewood at the Puget Sound Invitational at Fort Steilacoom State Park, with the men's 5k going at 11 am, and the women's 5k starting at 11:30 am.
Western Washington appears to be the team to beat in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, as the Vikings return as defending men's and women's team champions.
However, all three teams will have new leadership at the helm of their programs, with Ben Stensland the interim head coach after long time head coach Pee Wee Halsell retired last fall. The Vikings kept the interim tag on Stensland for the 2023-24 school year, as Western hired a new athletic director in former WSU and Missouri AD Jim Sterk.
Seattle Pacific replaced long time distance coach Chris Reed with Eric Hansen, who comes to the Falcons from Wayne State in Detroit, while Central Washington has Jonathan Hill taking over the helm of the Wildcats, replacing Kevin Adkisson, who wasn't retained after the 2022-23 season.
There are no links to live results; results will be posted afterwards here.
THE PRO CIRCUIT THIS WEEKEND...
With the pro track & field season winding down after the world championships in Budapest, there are still some quality meets contested this weekend.
In the next to last regular season Wanda Diamond League meet, Washington alum Gianna Woodruff, who is currently fifth in the 400 meter hurdles standings with 16 points in five races, will run her specialty Saturday, as the tour heads to Xiamen, China.
Woodruff runs in a field that includes four finalists from Budapest, led by third place finisher Rushell Clayton of Jamaica, as world champion Femke Bol and silver medalist Shamier Little are passing on the meet.
The meet gets underway at 7 pm local time (3 am Pacific) and will be streamed on Peacock ($) in the USA.
In Berlin, Allie Buchalski of the Brooks Beasts is entered in the women's' 5000 at the ISTAF Meeting at the Berlin Olympiastadion on Sunday.
She'll face a field that includes Letensenbet Gidey of Ethiopia, who finished second in the 10000 in Budapest, and has a season best of 14:07.94.
Also on Sunday, current Huskies Sophie O'Sullivan and Carley Thomas, along with recent UW grad Brian Fay, are entered in the Citta di Padova meeting in Padova, Italy.
O'Sullivan is entered in the women's 1500, while Thomas is in the women's 800.
Fay, who was a world championships competitor in Budapest for Ireland, drops down in distance to 1500 meters.
DUCKWORTH ACCEPTS POSITION AT ALABAMA...
Current University of Washington volunteer assistant coach Tim Duckworth has accepted a position as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama, according to a release from the school.
The 2018 NCAA decathlon and heptathlon champion at Kentucky under current UW associate head coach Toby Stevenson, served as a volunteer assistant at Washington during the 2020-23 seasons, working primarily with the multi-event group as well as the jumps.
He earned a spot on the British world championship team in 2019 in the decathlon, but was injured in Doha and did not start.
Wife Olivia, the current school record holder in the pole vault at Washington, will also make the move to Alabama and will look for a training group in the area heading into the 2024 Olympic year.
While it hasn't been formally announced, long time Northwest pole vault coach Tim Reilly is expected to take over Duckworth's spot at the University of Washington.
Reilly, who recently closed his Northwest Pole Vault Club facility in Seattle, will work with incoming Husky freshmen Hana and Amanda Moll. Reilly coached the twins at his facility.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, Seattle University, Washington State University, Western Washington, Central Washington, Seattle Pacific, and the University of Alabama, along with the Wanda Diamond League, the ISTAF meeting, and the Citta di Padova meeting contributed to this report.
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