LAS VEGAS — With just a handful of races on the schedule, Saint Mary's competed in the 2020 West Coast Conference Championships on Wednesday morning at Craig Ranch Regional Park. Taking on this neutral site course in the middle of the week during a pandemic certainly created additional hurdles for all teams competing, but the Gaels capped off the year by finishing sixth on the women's side and
 
SIXTH PLACE – WOMEN
The women's 6k race was really split into two groups: the group that was led by the eventual-champions, BYU, and the group that featured almost everybody else. From fifth place down was the next competitive pack, and Saint Mary's was right near the top of that group. The Gaels scored a sixth-place finish, 22 scoring points behind San Diego for fifth. SMC was led by Abigayle Mitchell, who finished just outside the top-30 with a time of 22:23.9, steadily improving her time across every kilometer. She gained seven positions overall in the final two kilometers to finish 31^st overall. Alize Hartke (22:49.3), Molly Dreher (22:54.8), Emily Fied (24:00.0), Daylana Ferguson (24:22.8), Jiana Cortero (24:28.0) and Alyssa Escay (25:10.8) were the other scored runners for the Gaels. What's more – the Gaels beat their WCC-rivals Santa Clara by one point.
 
EIGHTH PLACE – MEN
The men's 8k race was a bit more evenly spread out amongst the leaders as opposed to the women's race, but it was also controlled by BYU with a dominant first-place finish. As he was during the Jessup Invitational, Nolan Dozier paced the men's team as the Gaels earned an eighth-place finish overall, improving one spot from their 2019 finish in conference. Dozier won the Jessup Invitational, and facing stiffer competition this time around, ran a time of 25:33.3, just a mere two seconds off his pace from a few weeks ago. Dozier was good for 40^th place overall. Saint Mary's also received scoring runs from Anthony Vazquez (26:13.8), Sebastian Andersson (26:37.0), Moses Bojorquez (26:44.4), Derek O'Connor (26:59.8), Luke Bland (27:15.9), and Alex Riggsby (27:16.6).
 
PERSONAL BESTS
Alize Hartke – 22:49.3
Molly Dreher – 22:54.8
Emily Fied – 24:00.0
Daylana Ferguson – 24:22.8
Alyssa Escay – 25:10.8
Mariam Samara – 25:55.3
Derek O'Connor – 26:59.8
Luke Bland – 27:15.9
 
KINSEY QUOTES
"It was so great to be able to compete today. The WCC did a fantastic job being flexible and working in these dynamic times. The women moved up two spots and the men moved up a spot over last year to improve during a pandemic – that's a good showing of their perseverance. We get a short rest and will be back at it as track season has already begun." – head coach, Marty Kinsey