Cross Country Gets Underway Thursday in Alumni Park
8/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
MALIBU, California " The Pepperdine men's and women's cross country teams will get the 2016 season underway with the multi-team Pepperdine Invitational this Thursday afternoon in picturesque Alumni Park.
The women's 4K will start at 4 p.m., followed by the men's 5K at 4:30 p.m. The women's race will include five schools (Pepperdine, CSU Bakersfield, Long Beach State, UC Irvine and USC) while the men's race will include three teams (Pepperdine, LBSU, UCI).
The Pepperdine men have continued to build and improve with their core group. The Waves didn't have any seniors last season and several of their top returning runners are still sophomores and juniors.
Sophomore Nick Heath (Scotts Valley, Calif./Scotts Valley HS) was the team's top finisher at six of the seven meets last year and broke the school record in the 8K. He's been pushed by redshirt junior Nick Blanchard (Portland, Conn./Portland HS), who was the #2 runner for the Waves in last year's postseason.
"Nick Heath had a real breakout season, and he's come back even in better shape than his best shape last year," said Pepperdine Coach Robert Radnoti, who is in his 11th season. "He's looking great. He's crushed our preseason runs and I think he'll be an NCAA qualifier during his time here. Nick Blanchard also had an awesome summer and he's right on Nick Heath's heels. We've got a strong top two right now."
Radnoti is also pleased with the progress of senior Ben Fox (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain HS) and junior Kevin Maeda (Highland, Calif./Citrus Valley HS), who he has penciled in as the #3 and #4 runners.
"We still need a little bit more from our five through seven runners," Radnoti said. "We're not there yet. We've had some injuries, but we need some of our other guys to get closer to our top four. When we do, we'll be much better."
Among those most likely to have a breakthrough are senior Torin Wile (Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice HS), junior Rudy Gonzalez (Whittier, Calif./California HS), junior Nicholas Serrao (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills HS), sophomore Trevor Sytsma (Renton, Wash./Liberty HS) and freshman Treet Allison (Canyon, Texas/Canyon HS).
"As a team, we hope to move into the middle of the pack in the West Coast Conference," Radnoti said. "I think we're close to being able to do that. We want to be competitive and beat a lot of schools from around here at our early invitationals."
The women's team will look much different in 2016 as five of the team's top 10 runners graduated, including Katie Engel, who had regularly been the team's top finisher the past three seasons.
From last year's WCC Championships squad, the Waves do have the #2 runner, senior Lindsay Sheaffer (Portland, Ore./Jesuit HS), and the #5 runner, sophomore Elise Froebe (Lake Forest Park, Wash./Shorecrest HS), back.
"We've asked Lindsay to step up as a runner and as a team captain, and she's been doing that," Radnoti said. "But right now there are a lot of freshmen behind her. We've got a few returners trying to step up but right now our freshmen look strong."
Among those first-year runners are Izabela Garcia-Arce (Bonita, Calif./Bonita Vista HS), Samantha Maness (Raleigh, N.C./Broughton HS), Lupita Perez (Fillmore, Calif./Fillmore HS), Cori Persinger (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit West HS), Brianna Wilson (Murrieta, Calif./Linfield Christian School) and Andrea Zumpano (Coral Gables, Fla./Westminster Christian School).
Other returners hoping to make their mark include seniors Alex Campana (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge HS) and Simona Santi (Derwood, Md./Montgomery HS), juniors Amanda Stark (Fountain Valley, Calif./Fountain Valley HS) and Madelyn Whitaker (Parker, Texas) and redshirt freshman Megan Percy (Colorado Springs, Colo./The Classical Academy).
The Waves began preseason with a week-long trip to Mammoth Mountain for high-altitude training and team bonding.
"In all our years of preseason camps, this was one of our best ever," Radnoti said. "The team really gelled."
As is always the case for Pepperdine cross country, the team's overall mission has more to do than just running, and that was another reason for the trip.
"We did a lot of teaching through Christian books about manhood and womanhood and had a lot of good team discussions," Radnoti said. "We're getting closer to God and working on our faith. It's an interesting process as our program focuses on Pepperdine's mission of purpose, service and leadership."
After this week's meet, the Waves will also compete in the WCC Preview Meet in San Diego (Sept. 17), the Capital Cross Challenge in Sacramento (Oct. 1), the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational (Oct. 15), the WCC Championships in San Diego (Oct. 28) and the NCAA West Regional in Sacramento (Nov. 11).
Players Mentioned
