by Scott Harvey
Staff Writer
Running in the hot September sun is no exercise for the meek, but the men’s and women’s cross country teams, led by Coach Pat Widolff, are doing just that and setting their sights and dreams on a new season and making the Nationals.
Both teams plan to come out very strong after a 1995 season that left most runners and Coach Widolff disappointed. The Leopards, led by runners Gilbert Gomez and Jill Perkins, finished seventh in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships last year and did not compete in the NCAA Regionals.
Although the ‘95 season was not of championship caliber, the Leopards will start this year with experience, mostly demonstrated by Gomez and Perkins. The teams hope to start over this year and head to the Nationals in Davenport, Iowa, this November.
“We look to have a good group this year,” said Widolff.
“The team is about half new runners and half returning runners, and I’m very confident that we will do well,” said Widolff.
Other members of the team include Rosa Sanchez, Anna Caples, Morgan Babler, Vikki Wallace, Eren Piceno, Lyn Merrill, Manny Estrada, Jose Barba, Rafael Ginorio, Jeremy Gonzales, Mike Hernandez, Genaro Hernandez and Dan Ferguson.
The teams began practice on Tuesday and compete in their first Invitational tomorrow at the Cal State Fullerton Invitational in Yorba Linda. Other key invitationals include Division I competitions at UC Irvine on Sept. 14 and Stanford University in October.
