DAVID NAKAGAMI
Staff Writer
Finally it came into view. Like seeing the finish line faintly in the distance, the postseason at long last emerged in front of Pepperdine’s cross country teams. Nearly two months of arduous preparation in the form of daily multi-mile runs, weekly meets and independent workouts culminated at this point.
This past weekend, the men’s and women’s teams traveled up the coast to Belmont for the West Coast Conference Championships, where they planned on capitalizing on their preparation and executing their plan of attack on the field of seven other teams. The women placed fifth while the men grabbed the sixth spot.
Senior Kyla Maher again paced the Lady Waves, completing the 6K Crystal Springs Course in the scorching time of 23:13, placing eighth overall. Junior Courtney Young (23:57, 24), freshman Jessica Heckman (24:04, 27), senior Tarrah Crowley (24:19, 30) and sophomore Brie Carroll (24:22, 31) rounded out the score sheet and finished within 25 seconds of each other, vaulting the women’s team to a fifth-place finish out of the eight participating teams.
The men’s team was more spread out, with junior Sam Hudson leading the Waves by crossing the finish line in 26:48, good for 22nd place. Senior Chris Gaudreau (27:19, 30) and sophomore Mike Smith (27:44, 39) finished under the 28-minute mark, and sophomore Tim Hatters (28:11, 41) and freshman Nick Rowan (29:25, 45) also contributed to the team tally of 177. With this score, the men took sixth place, with a combined time of 139:27.
With his women’s and men’s teams taking home fifth and sixth-place finishes, respectively, Head Coach Robert Radnoti was delighted.
“We had some outstanding performances and everyone gave it their best shot,” Radnoti said. “Kyla Maher came through for us placing eighth overall, our highest finish since 1999. I am very proud of how far our team has come since the beginning of the season.”
Without a doubt, there has been improvement over the course of the season for the cross country teams. The women opened the season placing 11th of 19 at the Cal State Fullerton Invitational. Between that first race and the WCC Championships, the women took second in the University of San Diego Invitational, the Pepperdine Invitational and the UC Riverside Invitational.
The men have also improved, progressing from 13th of 14 at the Cal State Fullerton Invitational to first in the Pepperdine Invitational and second in the University of San Diego Invitational. Even athlete-to-athlete, there have been night-to-day changes in overall times and mile-to-mile splits. These developments prove that it is not were you start, or even where you are, but how far you’ve come that really matters.
“I hope that we take away a great desire to come back and do even better next year, to train year round to be the best we can be during championship season, and to believe they deserve to be there and peak when it counts,” Radnoti said.
The cross country postseason rolls on after a week of rest, as the Waves bring their best to Portland, Ore. for the NCAA West Regional Championships on Nov. 11.
11-02-2006