Pepperdine University
UC Riverside Invitational
Wishard Paces Runners at UC Riverside Invitational
9/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
The Pepperdine women won the team competition in the Open race, which was contested after the larger Invitational event. The Waves had seven of the top eight point-scorers in the race (unattached runners did not count) and outpointed Riverside Community College, the second-place team, 18 to 79. A total of 15 schools took part in the race.
"We wanted to run in the second race together," Pepperdine Coach Robert Radnoti said. "There were too many entries so they created a second race. They asked teams to split up and run half their group in the first race and half in the second, but we chose to run our entire team together. It worked out well for us, and it was something we wanted to do so we could run as a pack because we raced hard last week. The girls did a nice job. It was a flat, fast course and it was very hot in Riverside. Everybody did a really good job."
Wishard (Lawai, Hawaii/Kauai HS) finished the 5k course in 17:55.7. Teammates that followed her included sophomore Lauren Lodge (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton HS) in sixth in 18:21.7, sophomore Elizabeth Coe (Fountain Valley, Calif./Fountain Valley HS) in 13th in 18:46.9, sophomore Anaesha Lawrence (Sun Valley, Calif./Village Christian HS) in 16th in 19:00.2, sophomore Paige Mobley (Murrieta, Calif./Murrieta Valley HS) in 17th in 19:02.6 and sophomore Hannah DeWalt (Gig Harbor, Wash./Gig Harbor HS) and freshman Megan Doeding (La Crescenta, Calif./Crescenta Valley HS), who both tied for 21st in 19:16.1.
On the men's side, only a single 8k race was contested and the Waves took 17th place out of 30 teams. The top Pepperdine runners were junior Seth Allison (Canyon, Texas/Canyon HS) in 79th place in 25:53.1, freshman Wesley Blundell (Brush Prairie, Wash./Prairie HS) in 88th place 26:02.0, senior Garrett Reim (Fircrest, Wash./Curtis HS/Willamette) in 101st place in 26:15.4, sophomore Jordan Wozniak (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS) in 146th place in 26:57.5 and freshman Jonathan Rahaeuser (Irvine, Calif./Calvary Chapel HS) in 167th place in 27:13.8.
The Waves rested two of their top men's runners, junior Conrad Wozniak (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS) and sophomore Kenny Smith (Willits, Calif./Willits HS).
"We rested Conrad and Kenny, because part of our overall plan is to race the best when it counts at the end of the season," Radnoti said. "I continue to feel really good about our top group of runners. Seth led us today and Wes was right up there. This was a good workout for our men's team and it will help us as we get ready to make our push in October."
Pepperdine is in action again next Saturday (Sept. 26) at the CSU Bakersfield Invitational.
