XC Men 1st, Women 3rd at Inland Empire Classic
10/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Complete Results: Men | Women
SPOKANE, Wash. - Senior Nick Roche led the men's cross country team to a first-place finish, while the Zag women were third overall on Saturday at the Inland Empire Classic in Lewiston, Idaho.
All five of the top men's runner for Gonzaga finished in the top 12, amounting to just 20 points overall, 34 ahead of second-place Idaho. The women, running without two of its top runners, managed a third-place team finish, placing three in the top 20.
"One of major goals was to pack up and run for the team, and this was a perfect meet for us to do that," head coach Pat Tyson said. "Nick Roche, Colin O'Neil, Troy Fraley and a few others packed up and we felt like we accomplished that goal. It was nice to see Kyle Branch right up there, and Max and Connor ran well and were up front too."
Roche came in second overall to lead a 3-4-5 Zag finish. He came across in a time of 24 minutes, 15 seconds for 8,000 meters. O'Neil and Fraley were fourth and fifth, also registering a time of 24:15 to show the strength of the pack. Branch came in eighth at 24:21, and Max Kaderabek and Connor McCandless were 11th and 12th at 24:32 and 24:38.
The women were without Laura Tuthill and Zoe Urcadez, but Amelia Evans and Shelby Mills rallied the team with top-10 finishes. Evans came in fifth at 16:52 and Mills was seventh at 17:08.
Erin Bergmann posted a top-20 finish, coming in 19th at 17:38, followed by Jordan Thurston in 36th (18:19) and Olivia Evans in 39th (18:25).
"Shelby, Erin and Elena Slavoski ran very well," head women's coach Patty Ley said. "Most of our younger runners had 5k bests today. We're looking forward to WCCs and want to get everyone healthy and refreshed because we are looking solid right now."
Next up for both the men and women is the West Coast Conference Championships in Sunnyvale, California at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1.
