by Akilah Nyerere
Staff Writer
The University of La Verne men’s and women’s cross country teams faced stiff competition in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Eight-Way Meet at La Mirada Park on Friday.
Junior Lucas Neubauer placed 13th overall with the time of 27:55.30. Neubauer, one of the top runners this season, failed to peak at this invitational but still ran strong enough to help the Leopards beat four of the teams competing at the invitational. The Leopards gained enough points to edge out Occidental, Cal Lutheran, Caltech and the University of Redlands. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps came out on top with seven wins and no losses, while Pomona-Pitzer beat out Whittier College for second place in the matchup.
Freshman Rogelio Garcia placed 21st with 28:52.70 and freshman Sergio Rojas came in with a time of 29:30.10 and placed 28th overall in the 8,000-meter run. Senior Mario Guerrero placed 35th and sophomore Ryan Scott-Acosta closely followed him, placing 39th with a time of 30:33.10.
The time 30:59.80 was good enough to land freshman Gyles Drew in 43rd place. Senior Faust Obeso placed 49th out of the top fifty runners with 31:41.00.
Head coach Pat Widolff was pleased with the men’s performance at the invitational. Widolff believes that the team unity contributed to their success.
“They really bonded together as a team and they encourage each other a lot” said Widolff.
Of the women’s team, there were five runners that were able to place in the top 40 of the 99 runners entered. Three La Verne freshmen proved to be tough competition as they edged their way to the finish line. Freshman Shambra Clifford placed 23rd overall with the time of 21:12.80 while Gianina Lomedico ran with a finishing time of 21:36.60, placing her 32nd and Licet Lopez followed her placing 33rd with 21:38.50.
“I think we did OK for being a young team,” commented Lopez on the performance of the team. Lopez, who ran her personal best at the Eight-Way Invitational. Lopez said that she is optimistic that the team will improve with time.
Junior Leti Arroyo and sophomore Stephanie Pedroza finished slightly behind the three freshmen. Arroyo placed 37th with the time of 21:48.40 and Pedroza, whose finishing time was 2:55.60, ranked 38th at the competition.
With the Eight-Way Invitational out of the way, the cross country teams are now focusing on their next big race, the Oct. 28 Conference Championships.
“We’re trying to do a lot of speed work this week and next week to try to peak for that week,” said Widolff. “This meet will really tell us how we’ve done and how the season has gone.”
