With baseball’s pre-season in full swing and men’s volleyball’s over halfway done, track has just begun their first meets. After three events, the men and women’s track teams have already broken personal records, national records and shown promise for the remainder of the season.
In the first meet, the Waves faced off against UCSB and Westmont at Westmont on Feb. 18. Senior Lauren Lodge shattered the 2010 school record for the 3,000-meter run to win the heat with a time (9:52.98).
In addition, senior Aneasha Lawrence also broke a school record with a swift (5:15.18) finish to place third in the mile run.
The second competition of the season, the North Florida Meet on March 2 and 3, proved to be just as eventful. Lodge crushed another school record by an even larger margin of 16 seconds, 16:58.41, in the 5,000 meters. The finish earned her the top spot in the nation at the time.
What made her accomplishment more impressive was that the entire week prior to the meet, the team volunteered in Tampa, Florida, with the Hope Children’s Home, as they have been doing annually for the past six years.
“When I became head coach six years ago, I learned about Project Serve and really liked the idea,” head coach Robert Radnoti said. “Since athletes don’t usually get to go on a Project Serve trip, we created our own version of it for the track team and have been going every year ever since. The Hope Children’s Home is a wonderful place with wonderful people.”
Most recently, the team competed in the Ben Brown Invitational on Saturday and had yet another successful outing.
“In Florida it’s tough with the sun and the heat, and usually it takes us about a week to recover,” Radnoti said. “But we had a good meet. It’s great to be back in California. We’re entering the thick of our schedule, and everyone’s working really hard.”
Lawrence won the women’s 800 meters. Her time differed by one second from the 2008 school record. Junior Jonathan Rahaeuser set a solid personal record on the 1,500 meters, which was only two seconds slower than the 2008 school record.
“My 1,500 at the Ben Brown Invite felt great,” Rahaeuser said. “It’s still early in the season so I know I have time to improve, but what I’m most excited about is how I felt after. I ran hard, and I know I can go faster if I get into a big race.”
Rahaeuser is one of the five men on the small track team. However, he still has high expectations on the season.
“The team is small but we’re all competitive so we push each other in practice,” Rahaeuser said. “I’m really blessed with great training partners this season.”
Radnoti says he looks forward to the Southern California meets they have coming up, and emphasized the April San Francisco Distance Carnival, as well as the prestigious Stanford Invitational, which Lodge is expected to compete in.
“We always want to be progressive,” Radnoti said. “We are getting ready for an improved season. I just want our runners to stay healthy, and have a great experience running for Pepperdine Track & Field.”
