Cross Country Travels to UC Irvine Invitational
9/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
MALIBU, Calif. - Pepperdine's men's and women's cross country teams head to UC Irvine Saturday morning for their first road competition of the 2009 season. The Asics/UC Irvine Invitational features 59 collegiate and club teams comprised of 587 competitors.
Two women's 5,000-meter races are scheduled with the first one beginning at 8 a.m. One men's 8,000-meter race will start at approximately 9 a.m. The competitions take place on campus at the Anteater Recreation Center Field.
The Irvine meet is a homecoming run for freshman Jonathan Rahaeuser (Irvine, Calif./Calvary Chapel HS), sophomore Jordan Wozniak (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS) and his older brother junior Conrad Wozniak (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS). Conrad, a team co-captain, is familiar with the UCI campus and has been running its course since freshman year.
"It's a loop course that's mostly flat but there are some varied hills," he said. "This is going to be a challenge for the freshman since it's their first 8K and there's a big transition from high school to collegiate running. But I'm sure they'll run hard and finish strong. For us older guys we just want to pick up where we left off last year and improve on those times. It's not our most important race but we want to have a good showing to help with our confidence."
Pepperdine's men's team finished seventh at last year's Irvine meet and the women's squad placed fifth in the 14-team field.
Wozniak and the Waves last competed at home on Sept. 1 for the Malibu Oceanside Open, which featured a pair of 5K duals against runners from Cal State Bakersfield. Wozniak edged teammate sophomore Kenny Smith (Willits, Calif./Willits HS) by one second for the men's team title while sophomore Lauren Lodge (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton HS) topped the 22-woman field by 17 seconds.
Since their last race the Waves have continued to work hard and recently completed their four-week hill training phase, which took them through Malibu Creek State Park and Zuma Beach. Pepperdine will now shift its focus to faster and flatter workouts comprised of mile repeats and 1,200-meter tempo runs.
The upcoming workouts should lend themselves well to the Waves' upcoming schedule as they'll compete on the road the next three Saturdays, including Irvine. Following this Saturday's meet, Pepperdine will visit UC Riverside on Sept. 19 and Cal State Bakersfield on Sept. 26.
