SPENCER OSWALD/Assistant Photo Editor
SHUHEI MATSUO
Sports Editor
Pepperdine hosted one of the largest cross country meets in the nation today at Alumni Park, and the runners fought hard in the cold, rainy weather condition.
Today’s meet was not quite the biggest cross country event as far as the number of colleges involved (14), but it was overall with 91 high school participating.
Collegiate men kicked off first at 7:30 a.m., and UCLA captured a team victory with 39 points, followed by Cal State Fullerton’s 55 points.
The young Pepperdine men’s team ran hard but came in last at the 9-team, 8K race.
Although the Waves could not take advantage of their home course, freshman runner Isaiah White, who finished 46th overall with a time of 26:47, said he is satisfied with his performance.
“It was the best that I’ve done so far,” he said.
White also said that the rain made the course more challenging but was good for them.
“Coach [Robert Radnoti] told us the more dirt your get on your shoes, the better you run,” he added.
Individually, Fresno State’s freshman Erick Garcia won the close race against another freshman runner from UCLA, Evan Watchenpino. They finished with 24:25 and 24:26, respectively.
Pepperdine freshman Seth Allison came in first as a Wave and finished 40th overall with 26:33, while his fellow freshmen Tom Verdone and Eric Magana came in 62nd and 65th with 27:25 and 27:36, respectively. Senior Josh Stutzman completed the race 81st place with 30:46.
The women Waves competed in their 6K race soon after men’s race and finished the 12-team meet at 11th place. UCLA claimed a team victory with 39 points to beat Cal State Fullerton by 16 points.
Pepperdine junior Ashley Burt, who came in 84th with a time of 24:00, said she is satisfied with the results.
“We rested a lot of our top girls because they have some big meets coming up,” she said. “So overall as a team, I think we did great.”
Individually, Sarah Cocco, a freshman from University of Southern California, passed Cal State Los Angeles’ Karla Alburer, who was dominating the first half of the race, toward the end to claim a victory with 20:00. Alburer came in 18 seconds later.
Pepperdine junior Marissa Kerby led the Waves when she completed the race at 83rd with 23:58. Freshmen Mary Stutzman and Molly Coe finished at 89th and 93rd with 24:31 and 24:57, respectively. Senior Lauren Carfioli crossed the finish line at 100th place with 26:30, while sophomore Abby Uhrinak came in at 107th with 27:28.
09-22-2007
