Cross Country Teams Ready To Tackle WCC Championship Course
10/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 28, 2010
2010 West Coast Conference Cross Country Championships Central
MALIBU, Calif.- Pepperdine's 2010 cross country season reaches its apex Saturday when its men's and women's teams head north to the Crystal Springs Course at Belmont, Calif., for the West Coast Conference Championships. The women's 6K begins at 9 a.m. followed by the men's 8K at 9:45 a.m.
The weather forecast is calling for showers beginning tonight and lasting all the way through Saturday; however, head coach Robert Radnoti said his teams are prepared for any harsh conditions.
"We'll put in the long spikes and become mudders like those Portland folks," he said. "I've seen the dirt trails turn to mud with kids sliding down the hills ... but this is fun. We're going to have real cross country weather and our teams love running in the rain and cold."
Pepperdine has been looking forward to this competition ever since last year's ended with both squads finishing toward the middle of the pack. The men placed sixth and the women a lower-than-expected fifth despite Chelsea Wishard (Lawai, Hawai'i;/Kauai HS) earning her second consecutive conference bronze medal ( 21:14).
Radnoti fully expects Wishard to finish third or higher at her final WCC Championships with teammate Lauren Lodge (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton HS) pushing her all the way to the finish line. Lodge, a junior, has been outstanding all season and won the 5K Bronco Invitational held earlier this month with a personal best mark of 16:50.4.
Wishard came in right behind Lodge with a third place and sub 17-minute time of 16:57.8.
As a duo this season, Lodge and Wishard have combined to run six races and neither of them has yet to finish lower than fifth place. They were third and fifth, respectively, at the 10-team UC Irvine Invitational in early September, and then flipped spots the following week at Washington's prestigious Sundodger Invitational.
"Chelsea and Lauren give us an excellent one-two punch," Radnoti said, "and when combined with Aneasha Lawrence, Hannah DeWalt, Adrianna Davies, Emily Branch and Paige Mobley - we could be looking at the best women's team Pepperdine's ever had. We've been nationally ranked the last few weeks by one of the newsletters (Buzzin' Across The Country) and that's really boosted this group's confidence. I'm excited to see how they fare now against the rest of the WCC."
On the men's side, senior Seth Allison (Canyon, Texas/Canyon HS) has been a model of consistency for a team that's been plagued by injuries since the start of preseason. The veteran is one of only two Pepperdine runners, along with junior Jordan Wozniak (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS) to have raced at all of this year's six invitationals and has led his teammates - many of them freshmen - to the finish line at five of those competitions.
Allison's best 5K of 2010 (25:51.19) was posted at the Sundodger Invitational and Radnoti couldn't be prouder of the progress his lone senior has made over the past four years both on and off the course.
"Seth has really done a good job for us this season despite having a lot going on during his senior year, between his studies and on-campus TV program," Radnoti said, "but I think he's ready to run an outstanding race. Seth, Chelsea and Lauren have really been tremendous leaders for our program and have helped me develop our teams in both and athletic and spiritual sense."
Players Mentioned
