Cross Country finishes up WCC schedule
By Davis Jones
SPORTS EDITOR
Photo Courtesy of Vikki Hambley
The Torero cross country program wrapped up its regular season in Malibu, CA last weekend during the 2013 West Coast Conference Championships, with an eighth-place finish for the women and a ninth-place men’s finish.
Two weeks before for both the men’s side and the women’s side, we had one of the best races that we’ve had, so we came from a pretty big high,” USD head coach Will Guarino said. “A lot of personal bests were broken. We also came away with some school records, one on the freshmen side and the other on the senior girls side. And you want to have that kind of momentum going into the conference championships. But at the same time, I felt like something happened along the process where we needed to come back even higher and expect even more from ourselves at the championship level, which is what we prepare for.”
For the women’s race, three USD runners earned finishes in the top 50 positions. Senior Gillian Gorelik, who broke the school’s all-time record in the 6km two weeks ago, took 29th place with a time of 22:31. Freshman Andrea Hughes ran a time of 22:55 and finished 40th. Sophomore Ashton Padberg (23:12) took 50th place.
Three freshmen ran the top three USD performances in the men’s race; Matthew Beasley finished in 44th place (25:47), Adam Bodine in 60th (26:44) and Christopher Spinney in 68th (27:33). Senior Erik Anderson and sophomore Malik Hayes, who are both among the squad leaders in fastest regular season times, did not compete due to injury.
“Its discouraging, obviously, because firing off the main cylinders are the function of running here. And If you’re running on four cylinders, but normally you’re going on three or two because of injury, it’s a completely different vehicle,” Guarino said.
The No. 17 University of San Francisco Dons won the women’s overall title for the fifth year in a row. Four runners finished in the top 10, including individual winner Bridget Dahlberg (20:55). Rounding up spots two through five were the University of Portland Pilots, the Brigham Young University Cougars, the Loyola Marymount University Lions and the Gonzaga University Bulldogs, respectfully.