Bulldog Tracksters Head Across Town To Whitworth
3/23/2012 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University's men's and women's track teams will return to action Saturday at the Buc Scoring Invitational hosted by Whitworth University.
The Bulldogs opened the outdoor season last weekend at the Dusty Lane Open hosted by the Community Colleges of Spokane and turned in some strong performances.
While the weather has been unseasonably adverse with temperatures running 10 to 15 degrees below normal, head coach Pat Tyson said the Bulldogs have adjusted well to their training.
"One of Bill Bowerman's (Tyson's coach at the University of Oregon) five principles was adapting, and we certainly have had to adapt. Not having a facility on campus we already have had to adapt to our surroundings and what is available. We're pretty good at that," Tyson said. "We do have other options, maybe going for a run and then coming back and getting on the treadmill or bicycle and getting your heart rate up. I think it will make these athletes tough."
The Bulldogs put an added emphasis on the indoor season for the first time ever this year, but Tyson said the indoor season is not the end all.
"We've chosen to keep indoor simple in the sense it is not our goal to peak kids for the indoor season. I come from a philosophy where cross country is all about building a nice base for outdoor track and field. Everything is about outdoor track and field in my opinion. It goes back to the philosophy of Bowerman. You can overwork a horse. You only have so many races you can put together, and if you put all of your marbles on indoor and get some injuries that can create major setbacks for outdoor. Our goal was to give some kind of competition every other week in January and February," Tyson said.
The Bulldogs have been without standout runner Chris Boyle, who redshirted this past cross country season and has been hampered with a nerve injury that has held him back during the outdoor season and thus far in the spring.
"Chris has been nursing a nerve injury we believe is now healthy and he's able to run pain free. We probably won't get him into high end competing for a good month, but I might put him in a 5K tempo at the Sam Adams next week," Tyson said of the strategy to bring him back slowly.
On the women's side, their ace Lindsey Drake has a stress fracture and will miss the entire outdoor season.
"We thought it was a muscle thing but the MRI showed a stress fracture. It's hard on her and hard on all of us," said assistant coach Patty Ley, who primarily oversees the women's team.
With Boyle sidelined, Tyson is high on several other performers such as junior Andrew Walker, sophomore Robert Walgren, and freshmen Kyle Branch, Colin O'Neil, Matthew Crichlow and Nick Roche, to name just a few.
"We thought Walgren would get to the point where we think he would be really, really good; well he hit it," Tyson said. "He hit an 8:20 (3,000 meters) and a 4:11 (mile) indoors. This is a kid who ran like a 4:28 mile in high school and now he pops a 4:11. I think he has a 4:05 in him. He ran an 8:20 3,000 meters. I don't believe he ran under than 9:30 for 3,200 meters in high school and an 8:20 is equivalent to a sub-nine-minute 3,200 meters. We're happy with his progression and he's only a sophomore."
"Add other kids who are freshmen. O'Neil for example. He ran an 8:30 for 3,000 meters. If he stays healthy he's going to really help cross country and the track program over the next three years." Tyson predicted. "Branch is in that 8:40 range, Crichlow is under 8:40 for 3,000 meters. We have a great group of freshmen. I really like Roche. Maybe that 9:53 steeple debut didn't say 'oh my Lord look what Gonzaga has in the steeple,' but his attitude toward the steeple, his form over the hurdles looks good and he has to work on the water jump. It was a debut for him, he's never been over a water jump before and he looked good. I'll put a lot of emphasis on our freshmen. Six of them are really going to evolve into very good runners."
Tyson said Walker "isn't maybe where we want him yet, but he's typically inconsistent. But he's acing the workouts and I still believe in him," Tyson said.
Another upperclassman in junior Tate Kelly has Tyson excited about his middle distance runners.
"He opened up a sub-15 flat, getting second in our opening meet last weekend. We're happy with those guys. Scott Davis, a Ferris High grad who joined us this year, had a nice 4:17 mile indoors but guess what, he was only a 4:31 high schooler two years ago. We have high expectations. We don't ever want our middle distance runners over 4-flat if we can help it. We want that 3:50-4-flat range on a consistent basis and we believe we will get there with our group of middle distance runners," Tyson noted."
Redshirt junior Patrick Richie turned in what would have been a school record 3,000 meter steeplechase last weekend, but he is redshirting and running unattached this season.
"He is a workhorse. He's definitely got the ability to be under nine minutes. I'm going to credit our volunteer assistant Rich Nelson who was an All-America at BYU and is tutoring these young men and women. Richie is going to redshirt. It's something he wants to do and it will only make him better," Tyson said.
Picking up the slack for the injured Drake will be sophomore Emily Thomas, who had a solid cross country and indoor track season.
"She is progressing and it keeps growing. She really didn't have that many track races in her life, so every time she steps on the track she is learning something new," Ley said. "She had a fantastic last weekend, outkicking a 2:08 800 runner and she doesn't think she's very fast. That has to give her some confidence. She kind of sat on her and waited so it as a great tactically run race as well."
Redshirt freshman Catherine Theobald has also caught Ley's eye.
"She is starting to show some light. She's still a little inconsistent but she's starting to become a consistent sub-5:10 and her goal will be to become a sub 4:40 1500 runner on a consistent basis. She's capable of doing that and she's made huge strides over last year," Ley said.
Another freshman, Maggie Jones, "has stepped up and is breaking through that freshman year, but she's starting to catch fire in terms of competing and loving the sport," Ley said.
Like Tyson on the men's side, Ley is excited about the group of freshmen.
"It's a really solid freshman class and getting them back to just a little bit better where they were as high school seniors is a big goal. There are a lot of middle distance runners and they come out a little slower at the beginning of the year and you don't see the big drops. But you will in the next couple of weeks. They are grasping it and getting the hang of it. They are transitioning into a new system. There's a lot of potential for these ladies," Ley said of the youngsters dotting the roster.
One of those is Liz Ryan out of Boise "who had never run one season of high school track and Alison Fraher who last weekend in the 5,000 ran faster through the 1600 and the 3200 faster than she ever had in the high school open. She didn't even blink, just ran and said that's what I'm supposed to do," Ley said of two of the many prospects on the team.
Tyson is also looking to engage some of his runners into the more elite meets, the first being the Stanford Invitational April 6-7. Thomas, Kelly and Walgren are expected to compete, with perhaps one other female being chosen to attend.
"We would send Lindsey and Chris if they were healthy," Tyson said.
The Peyton Jordan Invitational hosted by Stanford April 29 is another top-notch meet Tyson is hopeful of sending competitors to.
The Peyton Jordan is really high end. We'll have to do some amazing performances to really decide to go there," Tyson said. "We're in the frontier on some of these high end meets, but we think it's important for our better runners to attend."
