Who said all good things must come to an end? Though the regular season is officially over for both the men’s and women’s cross country teams both teams are now preparing for the WCC Championships coming up Oct. 30 in Belmont Calif.
Last Saturday at Fullerton in the final meet of the season before WCC Championships Head Coach Robert Radnoti brought only five of his women runners to compete his smallest competing roster of the year. The rest of the two teams had the weekend off in preparation for this week’s upcoming WCC Championships. In the race at Fullerton it was junior Courtney Rolando who posted Pepperdine’s fastest time at 19 minutes 14.2 seconds. Right behind her was junior Elizabeth Coe senior Mary Stutzman and freshmen Sarah Attar and Makenzie Taylor respectively.
For those who didn’t compete this past weekend the regular season concluded Oct. 16th at the Bronco Invitational a race in which Pepperdine junior Lauren Lodge earned another first place in a race of 163 participants and senior Chelsea Wishard was just seven seconds behind in third place. Lodge and Wishard’s finishes helped keep their consistency of dually placing in the top five a feat they have accomplished in all three of the invitationals they competed in this season. It was also the first time the Pepperdine women beat Santa Clara at Santa Clara something that hasn’t been done since Coach Radnoti has been head coach.
Though both the men’s and women’s team are heading to the WCC Championships this weekend it is the women’s team that has more promise in bringing home a championship. By the end of conference competition the women ranked second among conference schools only two points behind Santa Clara.
“There’s a lot of optimism for the women’s team in Belmont this weekend senior runner Mary Stutzman said. We’re all really excited about it. Lolo [Lauren Lodge] and Chelsea [Wishard] are going to go out and try to place in the top 10— which historically has been very tough to do at the WCC Championships. The rest of the girls competing will be trying to stay in a pack and really help each other move up.”
Cross country analysts also see the potential in the women’s team as sports writer of “buzzin aCROSS the COUNTRY” Kevin Horan ranked the Pepperdine women as the 23rd best team in the nation.
Both teams compete for a championship title this Saturday in Belmont a 6k for the women (different from the usual 5k) and arguably the most difficult course of the season composed of 22 turns and four menacing hills. After the championships this weekend selected runners will move on to compete at Regionals on Nov. 13 in Eugene Ore.