SportsCross Country

Division I teams defeat La Verne in UCI meet

Early Saturday morning, junior Jose Barba sprints to finish the five-mile race at the UC Irvine Invitational, held at Central Park in Huntington Beach. / photo by Starr Carroll
Early Saturday morning, junior Jose Barba sprints to finish the five-mile race at the UC Irvine Invitational, held at Central Park in Huntington Beach. / photo by Starr Carroll

by Heather Morales
Editorial Assistant

With its first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) meet tomorrow at Caltech, the University of La Verne cross country team prepared with the UC Irvine (UCI) Invitational last Saturday.

The five-mile race took place at Central Park in Huntington Beach.

The men finished 12th out of 12 schools and the women finished 13th out of 14 schools.

Juniors Gilbert Gomez and Kelly Perkins were the top finishers for the men and women, respectively. Gomez with a time of 29:31 and Perkins with a time of 21:11.

Freshman Stephanie Lesniak was also a top finisher for the women with a time of 22:20.

Both teams ran against National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) division I teams from the west including UCI, Cal Poly Pomona, Occidental, UC Santa Barbara, Arizona State and California State University Fullerton.

“The first couple of weeks we were against really big Division I teams,” said Coach Pat Widolff, assistant professor of physical education.

As the season progresses and the team heads toward the SCIAC Championships, the meets become more and more important.

“The team is very young but it’s too early to tell,” said Widolff.

He said that the hot weather has hurt the team and that they will improve when the weather cools down.

He is optimistic. “This is the best team we’ve ever had,” said Widolff.

The Leos will be running at the Caltech Invitational in Pasadena tomorrow at 9 a.m.

Heather Morales, Arts & Entertainment Editor
Heather Morales
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Starr Carroll, Photography Editor
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