MALIBU ­Â– Under menacing skies and running on soggy trails, the UCLA men’s cross country team captured the 8k college team title at the Pepperdine Invitational on Saturday. Placing five of their runners in the top 15, the Bruins finished with 39 points while second place finisher Cal State Fullerton finished 17 points behind (56). Pepperdine finished in 11th place (249). The women’s 6k race ended in a close battle between Cal State Los Angeles in first (64) and Cal State Fullerton finishing second (68) for the team title. The Pepperdine women finished 10th (330).
The rookies stole the spotlight in both college races as two freshmen were the individual winners in their divisions. Freshman Erik Garcia from Fresno State won the men’s race with a time of 24:25. Garcia battled Evan Watchempino (24:26) of UCLA down the final stretch to cross the line in first. Winning the women’s race in a time of 20:00 was freshman Sarah Cocco of USC. Karla Alburez of Cal State Los Angeles was the second place finisher in 20:18.
Finishing first for the Waves was freshman Seth Allison (Canyon, Texas/ Canyon HS) placing 41st and running his fastest 8k this season (26:33).
“I had lots of people cheering for me today,” said Allison, who had friends from Texas visiting.
Freshman Isaiah White (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) ran a personal best by 19 seconds and was the second Pepperdine runner in, finishing 47th in (26:47). Finishing third for the Waves and also running a personal best was freshman Tom Verdone (Anaheim, Calif./ Canyon HS) in 65th place (27:25). Freshman Eric Magana (Whittier, Calif./ La Serna HS) placed 54th (27:36) followed by Senior Josh Stutzman in 87th place (30:46).
Junior Marissa Kerby (Riverside, Calif./ Ayala HS) was the Waves first finisher in a time of 23:58, in 83rd place followed by junior Ashley Burt (Boise, ID/ Boise HS) in 24:00, placing 84th. Burt ran an excellent second half of the race, closing in on Kerby the last 800 meters of the race. Freshman Mary Stutzman (Newberg, Ore./ Newberg HS) in her first collegiate race, was the third Pepperdine runner through the chute in 89th place (24:31). Senior Lauren Carfioli, despite battling asthma all week, was the fourth finisher in 100th place (26:30) and running in the fifth spot was sophomore Liz Lyons in 104th place (26:54).
“I felt mentally focused and physically strong today, I just didn’t feel like I had good turnover because the course felt slow,” Kerby said.
Immediately following the college races, the first of 16 high school races took place. Several runners were exposed to harsh weather conditions as heavy showers and strong winds arrived soon after the high school event began. Fortunately, the skies cleared in the afternoon and runners and spectators were treated to clears skies and mild weather.
The men’s and women’s cross country team and the women’s track team worked all day securing the finish line and offering encouragement and praise to the hundreds of runners who turned out for the day’s event.
“I heard people saying they enjoyed the views and the location despite the difficult conditions,” Pepperdine’s Burt said “It’s hard not to have a good time when you’re in such a great place.”
The Waves take two weeks off from competition before traveling to Phoenix, Ariz. to compete in the Arizona State University Invitational on Friday,Oct. 6th.
