Wishard, Kelley Lead Pepperdine at Stanford

PALO ALTO, Calif. Â Sophomore Chelsea Wishard led Pepperdine’s women’s cross country team to the finish line for a fourth straight race, and the Waves showed the conference, region and nation they’re shaping up to be serious postseason contenders. 

Pepperdine scored 343 team points, which placed them 13th out of 33 schools, and Wishard (Lawai, Hawai’i/Kauai HS) finished the 6K course in 25th out of 278 athletes with a time of 22:08.

Senior and team co-captain Brieanna Carroll (Pusan, South Korea/Pusan American HS) was second on Pepperdine and 58th overall, completing the course in 22:51, while freshman Lauren Lodge (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton HS) was third and 77th overall with her mark of 23:07.

Pepperdine came in third of five West Coast Conference schools with the point separation between the top four schools being a mere 31 points. San Francisco, the 10th-place team, collected 314 points and was followed closely by Loyola Marymount (338), the Waves (343) and Santa Clara (345). St. Mary’s finished a distant 26th with 804 points.

“I wanted the team to be competitive and really focus and go after the WCC like animals,” Pepperdine head coach Robert Radnoti said. “I think we ran well as a result and our competitiveness is something to be excited about. In another five weeks I think we’ll be even closer to the rest of our WCC friends at the conference championship.”

Host Stanford was the top school in both the men’s and women’s races. The Cardinal, with 39 points, outdistanced Cal (87) and Arkansas (103) on the men’s side, however, the race was won by Scotty Bauhs of Division II Chico State in 23:45.

The Cardinal women, with 43 points, were even more dominant, beating runner-up UC Davis by 79 points and third-place Azusa Pacific by 140 points. Cal Irvine’s Lauren Olvera was the individual champion with a time of 20:42.

“With a lot of Division II and III teams here this weekend as well as lot of schools from outside the region, I think this race will probably end up being tougher than the NCAA West Regional,” Radnoti said. “Going at it against 280 runners from some of the nation’s top programs has made this a great experience for us.”

While the competition was ideal, the weather and course conditions were less than idyllic. Radnoti noted the weather was pretty hot for a September day in Northern California, and because several high school races were held beforehand, the course times were slower than anticipated.

“It was an 8K race on the men’s side that featured seven loops so they’re constantly turning on the soft grass of the golf course, which will slow you down” he said. “And at times it gets challenging to remember exactly where you’re at in the race.”

Freshmen Jimmy Kelley (Santa Clarita, Calif./Hart HS) led Pepperdine for the first time this season, finishing the race in 26:43. And while it’s not conducive to compare times from meet to meet and course to course, it should be noted that Kelley’s Stanford time was a second lower than his 8K time posted earlier this month at the Asics/UC Irvine Invitational.

The course at Irvine was a much smoother and flatter course since it featured mostly street and sidewalk running.

“Jimmy was our No. 1 guy today and I know he’s made significant improvements every week,” Radnoti said. “Overall, though, we’re a very young team and we had three freshmen and two sophomores leading us to the finish line today. I can’t wait to see them grow up and mature as juniors and seniors and have us really in the thick of things.”

The Waves play host to their biggest meet of the season next Saturday, Oct. 4 with the Pepperdine Invitational. High schools, colleges and universities from all over the state and region are slated to compete at the day-long event, which begins around 8 a.m.

The price of admission will be $5.

Please click here for more information on the Pepperdine Invitational.

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