Waves to Face the West's Best at NCAA Regional
11/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
The women’s 6,000-meter race starts at 11 a.m. and the men run their first 10K of the season at noon.
Head coach Robert Radnoti understands the extra 2K will be a challenge for the men’s team, in particular the freshmen, but he’s hoping a low-pressure approach to the meet will foster positive results.
“In preparing for this last big meet, I haven’t put any pressure on the athletes and we’ve just been continuing to taper in practice,” he said. “I believe that by not having that added stress, they’ll be in a better position to run faster and produce some good performances.”
Pepperdine’s regional roster consists of six men and seven women, many of whom ran two weeks ago at the West Coast Conference Championships. The only major lineup change, however, is the addition of freshman Hannah DeWalt (
DeWalt had a solid first season for the Waves, often finishing as their No. 7 runner, but in the week prior to the WCCs, she finished first for Pepperdine and 22nd overall at Titan Invitational with a 5K mark of 19:13.1.
DeWalt will be joined at Stanford by senior Brieanna Carroll (Pusan, South Korea/Pusan American HS), sophomore Chelsea Wishard (Lawai, Hawai’i/Kauai HS), and Paige Knudsen (Los Gatos, Calif./Los Gatos HS), and freshman classmates Elizabeth Coe (Fountain Valley, Calif./Fountain Valley HS), Lauren Lodge (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton HS) and Paige Mobley (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta Valley HS).
The women’s team placed sixth at WCCs and was led by Wishard’s third-place time of 22:07. Wishard also guided the Waves at September’s Stanford Invitational, placing 25th on the 6K course in 22:08.
As a team, in its previous trip to
In line for the men’s team, which placed fifth at WCCs, are Seth Allison (Canyon, Texas/Canyon HS), Cole Feldman (Carroll, Iowa/Kuemper HS), Henri Floris (Chino Hills, Calif./Ayala HS), Derek Pesta (Gilroy, Calif./Gilroy HS), Kenny Smith (Willits, Calif./Willits HS) and team captain Conrad Wozniak (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS).
Allison led Pepperdine to the conference finish line with an 8K time of 27:13 and Wozniak was close behind in 27:21.
At last year’s West Regional, the Waves were led by Carroll on the women’s side (22:18.05) and current assistant coach Chris Ogle, who completed the 10K in 32:34.65.
The top two regional teams in each race will qualify automatically for the NCAA Championships along with the top four individuals not on qualifying teams. NCAAs take place Monday, Nov. 24 at
In addition, teams around the country are competing for 13 at-large berths, which will be awarded based on a season-long points system developed by the NCAA, with priority toward top regional placers; there are eight regions across the country.
Historically, the West Region, which features all Division I teams from the states of
Please click here for more information regarding the NCAA Regional Championships.
Information from
- Copy by Chris Macaluso (Pepperdine sports information)
