Tracksters Look To Set Personal Bests At Runners Soul Open
2/3/2012 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
SPOKANE, Wash. - The Gonzaga University track and field teams will get another opportunity to set personal bests Saturday as the Bulldogs head to Moscow, Idaho, to participate in the University of Idaho's Runners Soul Open.
The Runners Soul Open begins with the men's mile run at 11 a.m. The Bulldogs will be competing in the men's and women's 800 meter, 3,000 meter and mile events.
Bulldogs head coach Pat Tyson said his line-ups are going to look a little different comparing to the last two meets at the University of Washington.
"We're going to be taking a lot of our young runners and test them and see if they can step it up in this competition," Tyson said. "It will be a good opportunity to get some PRs and hopefully get these kids to elevate their competitiveness. That's our goal."
The Bulldog men will be without Chris Boyle and Tate Kelly Saturday. Both of them suffered some minor leg injuries before the University of Washington Invitational last Saturday, but Tyson hopes to see them back on the track soon.
"They're feeling better. I haven't given them the green light to go full board yet. We're going to see if they can get in a few days of no pain before we give them some workouts to get them back in competition mode," Tyson said.
Tyson said he is looking forward to watching Section 1 of the men's 3,000 meter. Eleven Bulldogs will be racing the 21-man heat race.
"All 11 runners are young kids developing. It's pretty exciting to see what is going to happen there," Tyson said. "Our goal is to get a lot of personal bests and engage in the competition."
The Bulldogs will also be without Robert Walgren. He is given a well-deserved weekend off after finishing 20th overall in the men's mile at the UW Invitational. Tyson said he still likes the look of the lineup in the first two heats. Matt Gosselin and Matthew Crichlow will be racing in Section 1 while Jared Gregorio, Jared Christian and Scott Davis will race in Section 2.
"These are the kind of heats where our goal is to see if we can dip under 4:20, which would be PRs for all of these guys," Tyson said.
On the women's side, assistant coach Patty Ley said she is looking to see positive results in the mile and 3,000 meter events.
"Lauren Bergam, Maggie Jones and Liz Ryan should show pretty significant improvements over their last races," Ley said. "Maggie's doubling back so we'll see how she does, but it will be a long day for her. If she can come pretty close to what she ran at the UW Preview (10:26.58) coming back after the mile, I'd be ecstatic. Somebody in that group definitely has a chance to go out and win it."
Ley is also looking forward to see newcomer Megan Batty back on the track. After receiving a redshirt during the cross country season, she made her track debut at the UW Preview and turned in a 5:29.20 in the women's mile.
"Megan was kind of rusty. I'm really hoping she can stick her nose in with the group and get some confidence in her," Ley said.
Tyson said the purpose of Saturday's meet is to have the young Bulldogs set personal bests and see what they need to work on before competing in the outdoor season.
"It's not a lot of pressure," Tyson said. "It's more keeping the kids fresh and giving them a little test effort to see where they are. It prevents us from having the winter blues. It's nice to be able to go and have something to shoot for. It's just part of the fire you hope to get to help them become very good in the outdoor season."
