Fresno State Athletics
Harriers Idle This Week
9/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 18, 2006
FRESNO, Calif. -
Fresno State Cross Country Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Fresno State Idle This Week
The Fresno State men and women's cross country teams are idle this week. After competing at the Sacramento State Hornet Jamboree last weekend, next up for the Bulldogs will be the highly touted Stanford Invitational, an evening meet on Sat., Sept. 30.
Sacramento State Hornet Jamboree in Review
Women - Competed at the Sacramento State Hornet Jamboree ... Missed out on a second place finish by one point and took third place out of four teams ... Three Bulldogs finished among the top 15 runners and four posted sub 20-minute 5K times ... Senior Zinzi Evans (Oakland, Calif.), sophomore Roxanne Sellick (Fresno, Calif.) and freshman Marissa McPhail (Crotton, Md.) were the top three runners ... Evans finished eighth overall and clocked her fifth-fastest 5K time (19:13) - 12 seconds off personal best ... Sellick finished second for the `Dogs for the second straight meet and notched her second-fastest 5K time (19:15) - 13 seconds off her personal best - for a ninth place showing ... McPhail crossed the finish line third for Fresno State with a 5K time of 19:25 ... She made her debut by finishing fourth for the Bulldogs at the 6K CS Stanislaus Invite ... Junior Patty Torres (Porterville, Calif.) notched back-to-back career performances ... After clocking a 6K time of 23:55 at the CS Stanisluas Invitational to open the year, she ran a personal-best 5K time of 19:58 at the Sacramento State Hornet Jamboree for her first sub 20-minute performance ... Sophomore Paloma Dominguez (Corcoran, Calif.) also clocked a personal-best 5K time with a mark of 20:33 for a 29th place showing at the Sac State Hornet Jamboree.
Men - The Sacramento State Hornet Jamboree field featured No. 11 BYU ... Fresno State started out with five runners but had to take a non-team score as one Bulldog could not finish ... Two Bulldogs made their collegiate debut: freshmen Frank Sanders (Ceres, Calif.) and Tony Rojas, Jr. (McFarland, Calif.) ... Freshman Brandon Geis (Fresno, Calif.) finished first for Fresno State with a season-best 8K time of 27:10 for a 27th place showing ... Sanders finished second for the Bulldogs and placed 30th overall (27:15) ... Sophomore Allan Williamson (Fresno, Calif.) finished 35th (27:59) and Rojas was 38th (28:29).
Top 'Dog Performances -
Evans: Team's top runner for the second straight meet ... notched her second top 10 finish in a race for the second straight time on year after finishing eighth (5K, 19:13) at Sacramento State Hornet Jamboree ... in the `Dogs first 5K race of the season, posted her fifth-fastest 5K time of her career and was 12 seconds off her personal best ... in 5K races to date, she has ran a sub-20 minute time in eight of 12 meets ... ran in 20th career meet this past weekend ... collected her third Top 10 meet finish ... has guided Fresno State to one invitational title (CS Stanislaus) this season ... never running cross country in high school, currently is listed among two Fresno State Top 25 running marks (No. 8, 6K, 23:17; No. 13, 2-mile, 11:23).
Geis: Finished first for the Bulldogs ... after making his collegiate debut at the CS Stanislaus Invitational and finishing 12th overall with an 8K time of 27:18, he improved upon his 8K time by eight seconds with a 27th place showing (27:10) ... one of five freshman on the nine-runner men's cross country squad.
Head Coach Joe Gonzales
In his second season as the head coach of the Fresno State women's cross country program and making his second stint as head coach of the men's program, Joe Gonzales has been a longtime assistant with the Fresno State track program. Entering his seventh year as an assistant coach in charge of the distance runners, he previously coached the Fresno State men's cross country program for three years (2000-02). Last season, Gonzales directed the women's program to a top five Western Athletic Conference finish, a trip to the NCAA Western Region and had one All-WAC performer. During his tenure as the men's cross country coach, Gonzales led the team to three top five finishes in the WAC, finishing fifth in 2001 and '02 along with a third place finish in 2000. Four runners also received All-WAC honors during that time. All told, Gonzales has had four consecutive top five finishes for the Bulldogs' men and women's program while coaching five all-conference runners. Prior to entering his coaching career at Fresno State, Gonzales served as a coach at Exeter Union High School. He began his coaching career at Exeter, where he started as a volunteer assistant for the cross country team in 1990. In 1995, he became the head cross country coach for both the boys and girls programs. Gonzales then served as the head track & field coach at Exeter from 1998-2000. In his 10 years at Exeter, he led the girls' cross country team to five league championships and a section title and the girls' track and field team to two league crowns. He guided the boys' cross country team to a pair of league titles. Gonzales graduated from Fresno State with a bachelor of science degree in liberal studies.
Evans and Sellick Are One-Two Punch
Senior Zinzi Evans (Oakland, Calif.) and sophomore Roxanne Sellick (Fresno, Calif.) were two of top three scorers last season. This year, both continue to take the leadership role as they have finished one-two, respectively, for the Bulldogs this season. Evans, who never ran cross country in high school, has been one of the program's top five runners since her sophomore year. To date, she has ran in 20 career meets and is ranked in No. 8 all-time in the school's 6K list (23:17) while having posted the school's 13th-fastest 2-mile mark of 11:23 at the 2006 Watermelon Run. Sellick has ran in all 11 meets since last season. In her collegiate debut, she posted the school's second-fastest 2-mile run by a freshman (11:25) at the 2005 Watermelon Run and improved upon that mark this season with a time of 11:23 to rank No. 16 all-time. She also ranks No. 11 in the school's 6K list (23:21). In Evans' career, she has finished as the 'Dogs top finisher in two meets -- all this season -- and has been the No. 2 runner in five races since last year. Sellick has been the 'Dogs No. 2 runner in four meets to date and the program's No. 3 runner in five races dating back to last season.
'Dogs Host 2006 WAC Cross Country Championship Fresno State will host its third WAC Cross Country Championship since joining the league. With Woodward Park serving as the WAC venue in 1999 and '97, Fresno State also will host its ninth overall a cross country conference championship. Fresno State also was the host school for the six Pacific Coast Athletic Association Conference championships (1986, '83, '82, '81, '74 and '68). Fresno State will have hosted 18 major events, including 14 NCAA Region/District championships, at Woodward Park.
Players Mentioned
