Gonzaga University
Bill Dellinger Invitational
Gonzaga Men Place Fifth at Bill Dellinger Invitational
9/29/2017 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
RESULTS
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. -- The Gonzaga women's and men's cross country programs ran against elite competition at the Bill Dellinger Invitational at the Springfield Country Club Friday.
The GU men placed fifth after getting out to a fast start. The Zags beat West Coast Conference foe Portland, while BYU swept the top four spots and took the team title.
Troy Fraley paced Gonzaga with an 18th place finish at 24:03.2. He ran with the front pack for the first half of the race. Jake Perrin was 31st with a time of 24:13.2. Max Kaderabek crossed the line at 24:20.1 in 39th place. Peter Hogan (24:24.1) and Bennett Gagnon (24:25.3) placed 42nd and 44th.
Jordan Thurston led the Zag women with a 39th place finish. She finished with a time of 20:11.0. Claire Manley followed in 86th place at 21:20.2. Kelly Gilbert (21:34.7, 94th), Jenna Rogers (21:36.5, 96th) and Aimee Piercy (21:38.9, 98th) rounded out the GU scoring.
"We came down to Eugene with a young and inexperienced crew and yes, team scores showed that," GU women's Head Coach Patty Ley said. "But, based upon times and efforts, it was a solid showing and taught these younger athletes what an elite level of competition looks and feels like. This was a competitive deep, deep race. Sometimes you go to meets to have to learn. Jordan is rounding back to the shape we hoped and had a nice 6k PR. And, she felt she is making the progress she needs to run well in the next six weeks. Claire continued her improvement as did Kelly. While Aimee is making progress and ran very strongly over the first 3/4. It was scary for the freshman in their first 6k, but they managed it well."
As a team, the Bulldogs were 10th. The Oregon women swept the top three spots and placed first. Stanford was second, followed by BYU, Washington and Portland.
Oregon's Katie Rainsburger won the women's race at 18:47.6, while Clayton Young of BYU placed first in the men's race with a time of 23:42.4.
On Oct. 14, Gonzaga will split squads and send runners to the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Louisville, Ky., and the Inland Empire Classic in Lewiston, Idaho. Live results will be available from the Pre-Nationals on GoZags.com.
