WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY Plain and simple, the Gonzaga women’s cross country team had the greatest season in program history in 2015. The numbers can back that statement up. The Zags finished the season by placing 25th in the program’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Championships. GU qualified for its first-ever trip to nationals behind its highest-ever finish in the NCAA West Regional Championships, placing sixth. The Bulldogs’ No. 5 regional ranking was their highest in program history, and their No. 30 national ranking was the program’s first appearance in the national poll. All of those accolades came after Gonzaga won the West Coast Conference title. The Zags’ first-place finish was the first conference title in 20 years and only the second in program history. In front of a large contingent of supporters, GU won the championship at Plantes Ferry Park in Spokane. It was only the second time the event was held outside of California, and the first time in nine years Gonzaga University has hosted a conference championship in any sport. Patty Ley was named the 2015 West Coast Conference Women’s Cross Country
AMELIA EVANS
Coach of the Year following the event. She became the first Zag to receive that honor since Kevin Swaim in 2000. Shelby Mills became only the second Gonzaga runner to win the women’s or men’s conference title. Cheska Fairbanks also won the women’s title in 1996. Mills led for the entirety of the race by a large margin. She created a gap from the 82-runner field and coasted to the title with a time of 20:55.7. The senior had an average mile of 5:36.6 and an average kilometer of 3:29.3. At regionals, Mills placed seventh and was named All-Region. At nationals, she paced the Zag women, finishing 82nd. The Snohomish, Wash. native was the top WCC finisher at both NCAA West Regionals and NCAA Championships. The GU women were picked fourth in the conference preseason poll, the program’s highest ranking in 11 years. The Zags received one first-place vote in the poll, a first since 2005. Mills and Amelia Evans became only the third and fourth Zags alltime to appear on the All-WCC preseason team.
In the season-opening race at the Clash of the Inland Northwest, Julie Henling broke the program record for the fastest time over a 4,000-meter course with a time of 13:58.9. Evans was right behind, besting the previous record, with a time of 14:05.0. Olivia Evans ran the sixth-fastest time in program history at 14:29.7. Mills opened her season with a third-place finish at the Bill Dellinger Invitational. Amelia Evans came in fourth place and Jordan Thurston placed sixth. The Bulldogs placed second as a team. Gonzaga was also second in the West Coast Conference Preview/Erik Anderson Invitational. Running on the same course as the WCC Championships, Maggie Jones led a pack of Bulldogs with a second-place finish at 21:25.9. It was the first race of the season for the redshirt senior. Thurston crossed the line at 21:26.1 in third. In her first race of the season, Jessica Mildes placed eighth with a time of 21:40.0. Then ranked ninth in the region, GU finished sixth at the elite Washington Invitational. Mildes led the Zags finishing 20th with a time of 20:25.3. Her time was