Track & Field Season Starts Saturday at UCSB

MALIBU, Calif. Â Pepperdine’s men’s and women’s track and field teams begin their 2009 seasons this Saturday at the Gaucho Roundup, which starts at 10 a.m. on the campus of UC Santa Barbara. Running events begin at noon. 

The season-opening meet also features Westmont College in addition to the Waves and the host institution.

“Our student-athletes have been working hard since January and it will be good for them to see how much improvement they’ve made from the cross country season,” Pepperdine track and field head coach Robert Radnoti said. “A lot of the results we’ll see from this meet also will help the coaching staff determine what type of additional training might be needed for individuals.”

Radnoti is in the midst of resurrecting Pepperdine’s track and field program, which was disbanded after the Malibu campus was opened in 1972 despite producing a healthy number of All-Americans and Olympians in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Nowadays, with both teams being so young and the West Coast Conference unable to support a championship meet, the program’s goals are slanted more toward breaking school records rather than national and world records.

The men’s team is entering just its second full season, while the women are ready to start their fourth.

“I think it’s a reasonable goal for us to want to break the school record in every event,” Radnoti said. “Since there are no WCC team championships, we have to instead go after individual recognition and I think we have the personnel to accomplish that.”

The women’s team, which will be represented in most every event this season with the exception of the pole vault and hammer, is returning everyone from last year’s sprints corps led by co-team captain and sophomore Amanda Ajdari (Valencia, Calif./Hart HS).

In 2008, Ajdari broke school records in the 100 (12.47) and 200 meters (25.74), the 400 meter hurdles (1:07.48) and with the 4x100 (49.75) and 4x400 (4:03.97) meter relays.

Radnoti believes this year’s 400-meter relay could be faster with the addition of newcomer Rebecca Clark (Laguna Beach, Calif./Laguna Beach HS) behind the blocks. She’ll be joined on the relay by Ajdari, Brittany Clark (Pleasanton, Calif./Foothill HS) and Bridgette Walker (Oak Harbor, Wash./Oak Harbor HS).

The women’s mid-distance squad also should be stronger with freshman Lauren Lodge (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton HS) coming over from the cross country squad. Radnoti said Lodge Â one of the school’s best distance runners last fall Â has been “crushing her workouts.”

Aneka Myles (Victorville, Calif./Silverado HS) is the lone thrower on the roster and will be ready to go from day one. She was added late to last season’s roster but still managed to break a pair of school records in the shot put (33-9 1/4) and discus (97-1) during her lone appearance at the 2008 Pomona-Pitzer Invitational.

The men’s team strictly consists of distance and mid-distance runners, although Radnoti will put together a 4x400-meter relay team for Saturday’s meet consisting of Brennen Halliday (Big Bear, Calif./Big Bear HS), James Leckie (Lebanon, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional HS), Eric Magana (Whittier, Calif./La Serna HS) and Jordan Wozniak (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS).

Members of the men’s team also will be featured in the 800, 1,500 and 3,000-meter runs. Magana set the school record in the 800-meter run last season at Pomona-Pitzer with a time of 1:55.84.

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