Wil Smith has bounceback performance with ninth place finish at Bill Dellinger Invite...
SPRINGFIELD, Oregon--Gonzaga's Wil Smith (Paul Merca photo) led the Bulldogs with his ninth place finish at the Bill Dellinger Invitational, hosted by the University of Oregon at the Pine Ridge Golf Course Friday morning.
The NCAA track and US Olympic Trials qualifier finished in 23:16, as he steadily moved through the pack, starting off in 43rd place at the 1k mark, and getting himself into tenth with 1k to go.
Logan Law was second for the Zags in 19th in 23:37, followed by Bryce Cerkowniak one place behind in 23:38. Cooper Laird was the fourth runner for the Bulldogs in 28th at 23:46, while Paul Talens rounded out their five scorers in 38th at 23:57, giving the Zags a 1-5 split of 41 seconds.
Gonzaga director and men's head coach Pat Tyson was happy with the 41 second spread, attributing that to Smith having a better race than he did in Wisconsin at the Nuttycombe Invitational two weeks ago, where he was the Zags' third runner in 76th place.
Though Drew Kolodge, who was Gonzaga's second runner in Wisconsin, could have raced, Tyson elected to sit him out due to a toe strain, which may have affected Gonzaga's 1-5 team split.
Number 2 ranked BYU scored a perfect 15 points, with seven runners inside the top ten, led by winner Casey Clinger, who ran 22:55.
Number 22 Oregon was second with 97 points, followed by the Zags at 101, who were one point than fourth place Montana State's 102.
Number 25 Portland, which did not run many of their top runners, finished fifth with 159.
While in town for the meet, the Zags took some time to visit the meet's namesake, legendary Oregon runner, 1964 Tokyo Olympic 5000m bronze medalist and coach Bill Dellinger (front center/photo courtesy Gonzaga Athletics), who coached Tyson (front/left) when he ran at Oregon.
FINAL WEEKEND OF COMPETITION FOR THREE OF WASHINGTON'S FOUR GNAC SCHOOLS...
With only Central Washington taking the weekend off, Western Washington, Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin's are competing in their final regular season meets before the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet on October 26th in Bellingham.
Western, which is ranked number 11 in both the men's and women 's USTFCCCA national poll, along with Seattle Pacific's women's squad, heads off to Romeoville, Illinois to race in Saturday's Lewis Crossover.
The Lewis Crossover is perhaps the most significant regular season meet in Division II this season, with three top ten teams entered in the men's competition, led by #3 Colorado School of Mines, #4 Grand Valley State, and #10 Lewis.
The women's race has #2 Grand Valley State, #4 Augustana (SD), #5 Colorado School of Mines, and #6 Lewis in the field.
There are currently 12 nationally ranked women's teams, and 16 top-30 ranked men's teams in the field, so for both Viking teams, this will be a true test for the overwhelming favorites to defend the GNAC title in two weeks.
Seattle Pacific All-American Annika Esvelt looks to get in the mix up front in the individual race. In her last race, Esvelt was seventh at the Bill Roe Classic in Ferndale, behind Kendall Kramer and Rosie Fordham of Alaska/Fairbanks. The Nanooks have a women's team entered in the Lewis Crossover.
From the GNAC, Western Oregon, Simon Fraser, Northwest Nazarene, and Alaska Anchorage are also represented in the Crossover as they start fine tuning their squads for the championship season.
Racing gets underway at 7:45 am Pacific with the men's 8k, and at 8:30 am Pacific with the women's 6k.
EMERALD CITY OPEN SATURDAY...
Seattle Pacific's men's team, both Saint Martin's squads, and those runners from Western Washington and Seattle Pacific not making the trip to the Lewis Crossover, will join Seattle University and several local club teams at Lower Woodland Park for Saturday's Emerald City Open, hosted by Club Northwest.
Races get underway at 10:30 am with the men's 8k followed by the women's 6k at 11:15 am.
USATF OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS UPDATE...
Updating an announcement earlier in the week from USA Track & Field, TrackTown USA, the Eugene-based organization that stages meets such as the Nike Prefontaine Classic, the US Olympic Track and Field Trials, and others at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus, announced the dates of the 2025 USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
The meet, which is the qualifying meet for the World Athletics outdoor championships in September 2025, will be contested July 31-August 3, 2025.
This will be the 14th time that the USATF Championship meet will be staged in Track Town, U.S.A.--most recently seeing the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials–Track & Field held at Hayward Field this past summer.
NOTE: The sports information office of Gonzaga University, University of Oregon, Lewis University, Seattle Pacific, Western Washington, and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference contributed to this report.
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