WILLIAM ADAMS
Staff Writer
Nearing the end of a season marked with inconsistency, Pepperdine’s cross country teams finished the 2007 campaign strong, with both teams taking fifth place in the West Coast Conference Championship. The men’s team showcased its new roster and made it clear that Pepperdine will soon be a force to be reckoned with. The lady Waves matched the men’s performance, claiming the fifth place title for the second straight year. Both men’s and women’s races were won by Portland for the sixth straight year.
“We did all right,” said freshman David Williams. “We were bunched up and ran as a pack, but we were a lot further back than we wanted to be. I think some people felt a lot of pressure so maybe we didn’t perform as well as we wanted to.”
Senior Chris Ogle again led the Waves, finishing the eight kilometer course in 25:39, good enough to capture tenth place overall and the first runner to finish for the team. Freshman David Williams showed the WCC that Pepperdine’s new runners will only improve the rebuilding team. He claimed thirty-third place, finishing the race in 26:58. The men were able to finish with 152 points, a great step forward from their past difficulties. Rounding out the top five for the Waves were Conrad Wozniak (27:07), Henri Floris (27:11), and Eric Magana (27:31).
The ladies team finished the event in fifth place for the second straight year. Juniors Brie Carroll and Courtney Young finished one second apart from each other, finishing in 22:39 and 22:40, respectively. Young’s time was a personal record and she became the only runner to join Brie Carroll in the 22-minute club. These strong finishes earned them twenty-first and twenty-second place and led the team to a total of 153 points. The top five was rounded out by Chelsea Wishard (23:52), Anna Honig (24:15), and Ashley Burt (24:25). Additionally, Burt, a last minute sub, bested her personal record by one minute and twenty-three seconds.
“We did pretty good,” Wishard said. “We placed fifth as a team. We improved from last year so that’s good, but we didn’t do as good as we had hoped. It wasn’t our best day but it was a learning experience.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams will see their next action at the NCAA West Regionals, held in Eugene, Ore., on Saturday, Nov. 10,
“I think we just want to go out and have a good showing and run good times, stay focused, stay in the race as long as we can,” Williams said. “Hopefully we’ll be using that to qualify in the years to come.”
11-01-2007
