Zags Open Outdoor Track Season In Impressive Fashion
3/17/2013 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University head coach Part Tyson and assistant coach Patty Ley both came away pleased with what was accomplished in the outdoor track opener at the Dusty Lane Open Saturday at Spokane Falls Community College.
"We did get out of this opener some of the things we were hoping to get. In track and field there is no perfect day. I've never been at a meet where everything was perfect. You have your ups and downs, and we had a lot of ups. A lot of performances that give some hope that we have four or five kids for Austin, Texas," Tyson said, already pointing to the NCAA West Preliminary Meet in Austin, Texas, the end of May.
"I think for the most part," Ley echoed. "There are a couple of kids who will look at it and go oh man. That's okay. Part of it, too, is to be able to come in and say what level of fitness do I have to be at and what level do I have to do," she said.
A look at the numbers backs up Ley's statement on what the Gonzaga women accomplished.
"Comparing results the last two years it's far and away the best opener in history. You start to get greedy and say that wasn't as good as you wanted, then you start looking at the numbers. In the 5000 three years ago we had two women run under 18 (minutes). Today we had three including Lauren Bergam who ran unattached. We had seven women faster than our top three two years ago. We're way ahead of that. You get greedy, want a little more and want the whole package," Ley said.
The featured event for the men was the 5000 meters, and they didn't disappoint Tyson.
"The 5000 was our feature event and it was a Zagfest as we had eight or so guys in there. It wasn't the featured event for other schools," Tyson said.
And the race went pretty much according to plan.
" Our goal was to have Conor McCandless, Tate Kelly, Ned Fischer and Robert Walgren feed off each other and hit alternating 70's (70-second laps). They got a little excited early and came through the first 400 in 66 (seconds), but they settled back and were on pace at 9:24 through the 3200 meter mark. All-in-all McCandless opened it up in the last lap and won it in 14:41.96, the fastest freshman in Gonzaga history and will put him in the top five of all-time. He's only a freshman and that's his debut 5000," Tyson said of the product of Spokane's Gonzaga Prep.
But the others didn't disappoint Tyson, either.
"Fischer had a 10-second PR (14:44.25). Robert (14:47.53) was engaged most of the race. Tate Kelly (14:51.19) was in the mix, so he's where he was a year ago. He's had a hamstring strain and just isn't back yet," Tyson said.
But it was a compliment from an opposing coach that made Tyson feel good.
"Even the WSU coach (Washington State University head coach Rick Sloan) came up and said that was a pretty good 5000. He said the times weren't earth shaking but what a great start. I'm happy with the 5000," Tyson said of the performance.
Ley was most interested to see how the younger runners would perform, and, for the most part, they came through in style.
"Solidly. It was a mixed bag," Ley said of the women. "Several of them struggled a touch coming back off break."
But a couple of performances caught her eye.
"Up front Zoe Urcadez was awesome, just two seconds off the frosh record in her opener. She ran 4:44.80 which is equivalent to 5:03 (high school 1600) and she was a 5:17 kid in high school. I think she's basically PR'd or equivalent PR'd every race since we began running on the track," Ley said. "Amelia Evans (18:03.32) was three seconds off breaking that 18 minute mark in the 5000 and Taylor Cherry ran 18:33, an excellent time for her right now."
The veterans also turned in some strong opening-day performances.
Maggie Jones won the 5000 in 17:32.94 using a new strategy employed by Ley.
"I had Maggie run an odd race plan because we were working on some things. We wanted her to run a hard first mile, float the middle and then try to bring it back down the last mile. She floated a little bit more in the middle than she needs to and still had a 21-second PR," Ley said.
Lara Tuthill also turned in a strong effort in finishing second behind Jones in 17:36.17.
"Lara had a 47 or 48 second PR. Annelie Fjortoft is still having a storybook season. She ran 18:19 for a 66-scond PR. I took a couple of freshmen who were disappointed in their marks and said let's go talk to Annelie and where she was a couple of years ago and this is what you can do once you understand the sport," Ley noted.
Including Bergam who ran unattached because she may still redshirt, five of the nine Gonzaga runners in the 5000 returning this season had PR's, and in the 1500 six of the 10 participants had PR's.
"I think the average PR was about 20 seconds," Ley said.
The women were without veterans Emily Thomas who was attending an academic conference and Lindsey Drake, who warmed up but was scratched with an ankle injury suffered earlier in the week during training.
The steeplechase was another event Tyson had some extra interest in to see how veterans Nick Roche and Patrick Richie would perform.
"We're really high on Nick and Patrick. They will be the best steeplechasers in Gonzaga history. There are some things they need to work on. It's a technical event. They have to be able to execute the hurdles and the water jumps. You're talking 35 jumps, 28 regular jumps and seven water jumps over a nine-minute window," Tyson said.
But they still turned in a superb day.
"Roche was dominating, and by dominating I mean he set the pace. Forrest Shaffer of WSU shadowed him and Richie hung back a little too much in the opinion of the coaches. Roche got beat at the end. In a perfect word we were hoping 9:20s to start. Roche has to work on the water jumps and Richie has to work on getting out a little faster. That 2-3, 9:30 start has never been done in Gonzaga history," Tyson said of Roche's 9:31.00 runner-up finish and Richie's 9:31.6 third-place mark.
Shaffer won in 9:30.4.
The 800 meters was also on Tyson's pre-race radar with Andy Phillips and newcomer Joe LaMontagne.
"Andy is coming off a slight Achilles and not quite there. We know he'll be a sub-1:50 guy and ended up running a 1:55.65 for fourth," Tyson said.
But LaMontagne made Tyson, to some extent, eat his words.
"More importantly was Joe LaMontagne, the walk-on ex-sprinter from high school. He was relentless and kept bugging me and bugging me and I told him we were already top-heavy and I didn't know if I needed another guy," Tyson recalled of LaMontagne's pleading to add him to the squad. "So what does he do but go out and run a 1:52.74 to open the season and is just 4-tenths of a second behind Jon Neill's school record. So he's there not in great weather or in great conditions and that was exciting. It was fun to see Joe get second."
With Phillips and LaMontagne in the mix, Neill's school record of 1:52.31 set in 1996 seems certain to fall this season.
But as excited as Tyson got over the 800 meters, the 1500 seemed to bring him the most pleasure of the afternoon.
"We have to talk about the 1500. That was one I wasn't going to focus on until this next week at Whitworth," Tyson admitted.
But Brent Felnagle quickly changed his mind.
"That was a featured event for Washington State and there's no way junior Brent Felnagle should be even close to being in the mix against guys who are attempting to break 3:50. They had a rabbit (pace runner) in there. He went out and hung in with the Cougs. We didn't know how long he was going to hang on. They came through at 2:02 at the 800 meter mark. He hadn't done any speed work for a month if not longer. He just ran on guts," Tyson said. "With 200 meters to go if he had some better conditioning, if he was fitter he would have won. There's no doubt in my mind because he has a great finish. He didn't slow down until the last 200 and still ran a 3:53.20 which makes him the third Zag of all-time. He is No.1 all-time at 3:52.27 and Jon Neil is in there at 3:53. What a way to open."
The Bulldogs will be at the Buc Scoring Invite Friday at Spokane's Whitworth University.
