By Rosy Banks
Assistant Living Editor
Two days before West Coast Conference championships and the fastest Pepperdine cross country team in more than a decade is ready as ever. A majority of top runners beat their personal records in the Titan Cross County Invitational run at Carbon Canyon Park in Brea, Calif., last Friday and intend to peak for their most important race of the season—West Coast Conference in Belmont, Calif., Saturday.
Two members of the women’s team broke 19 minutes in their 5k last Friday, with Tarrah Crowley beating her Pepperdine record, leading in a time of 18:51, finishing eighth overall. Lauren Tyree clipped close behind, finishing 11th in a time of 18:58. The women’s team tied for first with University of California Santa Barbara and UCLA, schools that are top competitors on the West Coast.
“Placing first is a great accomplishment for our team,” Head Coach Dick Kampmann said. “The progress that these individuals have made throughout the course of the year and their dedication to improving each time out has been fun to watch.”
Men’s 8k in Brea was led by sophomore Chad Trammell with his fifth place finish for the 8k in 25:41. Overall, Pepperdine men finished fourth beating Loyola Marymount.
“We have some strong guys who will make a big difference at Conference,” Neal Washburn, a top-five finisher for the team, said. “We’re close knit and run together so it’s harder for other teams to beat us scoring wise. I think if we all do our best and keep scoring smart as a pack, we’ll be happy with the outcome.”
Freshman Crowley and sophomore Lauren Tyree, who has been a top finisher in six of seven races this year, pace the Waves. Sophomore Trammell and senior Louis Rich lead the men’s team.
Both teams have made phenomenal progress since last season, according to their coach, beating teams that have been top finishers for years. San Diego was defeated for the first time in a decade at Pepperdine’s home meet, several weeks ago.
The teams say they will continue to surprise their competitors and are set on improving upon a fourth place finish at last year’s conference championships.
“We’ve all been training really hard and our hard work will definitely pay off,” said Tarrah Crowley, a top freshman runner. “Earlier in the season we were running the hills around Pepperdine, but lately we’ve been tapering to more speed workouts so we’re right on schedule to peak very soon. Hopefully that peak will come at Conference.”
Trammell and Rich will be joined at Conference by freshmen Chris Gaudreau and Neal Washburn, junior Edward Leon and seniors Kevin Nerison and Nevada Tuggle.
The women’s Conference team will include Crowley, Tyree and freshman Karen Porter, seniors Christine Carter and Jennifer Crossland, junior Katie Clary, and freshman Kyla Maher.
“I am very optimistic heading into this year’s league championships that our runners have trained themselves well, performing at their highest levels and will compete very well this week,” Coach Kampmann said.
October 30, 2003