ZACH ENGLUND
Sports Assistant
Achievement is no stranger to the Pepperdine women’s track team this season. Head Coach Robert Radnoti couldn’t be happier about the accomplishments of his team this year.
“First and foremost, we wanted to meet the NCAA minimum of athletes and events, and we’re well over those marks, so we’re now a NCAA sport,” he said. “We hosted our first home meet and we broke almost every school record there is, so overall it’s just been a super successful season.”
The Waves most recent feat came the Friday of spring break, when the team competed in its first out-of-state meet when it ran at the University of South Florida Invitational over the weekend in Tampa, Fla. More records were broken in the meet, which was the biggest of the season thus far. They also had the chance to spend time volunteering with children on the trip.
“It couldn’t have been too much better for us,” Radnoti said. “There were about a dozen schools there, and it was on a Friday night so it was under the lights. It was just a great experience to go there.”
The Waves’ best finish of the weekend was Caitlin White’s fifth-place finish in the 3000-meter run, posting a time of 10:41.46.
Lauren Carfioli placed in 800m, finishing in 12th place with a personal-best time of 2:28.56, while teammate Taylor Gamble tallied just a few seconds behind at 2:28.56.
Although the track meet was the main reason the Waves traveled to Florida, for most of the girls, it wasn’t even the highlight. Over spring break, the team volunteered at the Hope Children’s Home, an institution whose goal is to nurture, house, clothe and educate children who’ve been abandoned, mistreated or abused by their parents.
From raking leaves to washing buses, the team did whatever needed to get done and had a great time doing it. After working so closely with the children throughout the week, returning home for the Waves was easier said than done.
“By Friday, there were a lot of tears on both sides,” Radnoti said. “Our girls made such incredible connections with the kids. It was really hard to leave such an incredible and heartwarming place.”
Maria Llacuna, freshman sprinter and hurdler for the Waves, said the children made it impossible not to get attached.
“I kind of wanted to work with the children more than we did, but being with them was great,” she said. “You get really attached to them cause they’ll hold on to you and never let go. I had a handful of kids that when we ate would say, ‘I wanna sit next to you!,’ so you can’t help but get attached to that.”
Although their break was not much of a vacation, the team had such a good time with the children that they’re considering making the trip an annual tradition.
“I’m toying with whether we should just adopt that organization, cause it would be neat to go there every year and see the same kids a year later, or do we go to a different place every year?” Radnoti said. “Without a doubt, we are going to do this every spring break somewhere… Although there wasn’t a lot of time for rest, it was a fantastic experience.”
The Waves don’t return to the track until Friday, March 30th, when they compete in the Cal-Nevada meet.
03-22-2007