Alexis Sebring
Sports Assistant
Men’s and women’s cross country runners had the advantage of running a scenic route Saturday at the University of Hawaii’s Big Wave Invitational in Kaneohe. Law student Cole Feldman flew past the finish line, leading the men’s team on the 5k course with a time of 16:03.57.
“He’s balancing law school and being a Division 1 athlete, which is quite a challenge,” said Head Coach Robert Radnoti.
The men’s team placed second in the meet against UCLA, SDSU, George Fox University and six schools from Hawaii. UCLA managed to finish just before Pepperdine, but the men’s team still fared well, ending up with 69 points.
The top runners after Feldman were sophomore Seth Allison, freshman James Kelley, sophomore Conrad Wozniak and freshman Kenny Smith. They ran hard enough to earn themselves places in the top 20.
Sophomore Chelsea Wishard led the women’s team on the 4k course to third place overall with a time of 14:43.18.
“We had some great performances,” Radnoti said. “[Wishard] set a PR, so that was neat.”
Wishard, who is a native Hawaiian, got to race with many of her loved ones present.
“What was neat about it was she’s from Hawaii,” Radnoti said. “Her mom was there, her grandparents and her best friend from high school; she was running in front of home crowd.”
Following Wishard’s footsteps were sophomore Paige Knudsen, freshman Lauren Lodge and freshman Elizabeth Coe. They placed in the top 20 out of 62 for the women’s team.
Knudsen stepped up in her performance this meet, rushing to the end just four seconds after Wishard.
“I felt really good about my individual performance,” Knudsen said. “I kind of surprised myself because I was worried about the temperature; it’s really hot and humid in Hawaii. But, I felt good about how I did. I think I was more mentally motivated about it — just being in a different place.”
The view they had while racing on the military base in East Oahu was a popular factor among the team.
“It was on a golf course … and it had a really pretty view at the top of the Pacific Ocean,” Knudsen said.
Competing in such a far location had some more difficult aspects, as well as some positive ones.
“It was challenging because we didn’t get in until late Friday night, so it was an early morning the next day,” Radnoti said. “The benefits of that were that we had all of Saturday and Sunday to enjoy Hawaii.”
The Waves’ next destination is the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto on Saturday.
09-25-2008
