MARC CHOQUETTE
Staff Writer
The Pepperdine men’s cross country team might top any “crazy” tale from this past weekend.
After a rough season last year with no top three finishes to speak of, in addition to some struggles and an 11th-place finish in this season’s opener at CSU Fullerton, the guys most certainly hoped for a better showing this week. It’s doubtful that many of them thought they would come through with a first-place finish, however.
Driving past disappointment in Fullerton down to San Diego, the team finished with a commanding 14-point win at the University of San Diego Invitational, taking care of conference rivals USD and Loyola Marymount (even though LMU rested their best runners). The win indicates the team will be serious contenders in the West Coast Conference this fall.
Chad Trammell led the way for the Waves with a first-place finish and a blistering time of 26:51 on an eight-kilometer course. Trammell was backed up by two other Waves finishing in the top eight: Freshman Timothy Hatters finished fourth and sophomore Matt Jenks finished in eighth, both finishing with times below 29 minutes.
Sophomore Sam Hudson said of last week’s race, “It was rewarding to walk away from the meet as winners, especially because LMU and San Diego were there.”
Whether the win changed anything in regards to preparation for the next meet, Jenks said, “We have just now entered our speedwork phase, so we should see a lot of improvement between now and Conference.”
Pepperdine looks to carry its momentum into the next meet, which will be a week from Saturday, on home turf in Malibu. The Pepperdine Invitational will host University of Southern California, California State University, Northridge and Cal State Los Angeles.
Hudson said he is optimistic about the next meet and said he feels that a second straight win is possible.
Students can watch this meet up close and personal, because the course includes the track, the dorm loop and various parking lots around campus.
It is only once a year that the team gets to race on home turf, and Hudson said he hopes that Pepperdine students will take a few minutes out of their day to root for the guys.
“It’d be nice to have some home crowd support from students who live on campus,” he said.
09-15-2005
