Pomona, CA - The University of La Verne men's cross country team took ninth place overall at the Pomona-Pitzer Invite, third place out of the SCIAC schools participating. The Leopards entered the meets resting five of their top six runners. Overall, the squad had a better performance than the team last year did at full capacity in the meet. Nursing injuries and competing through them, the men were able to safeguard themselves and continue to make progress collectively as a team.
Jared Albaugh, Valencio Coco, Thomas Taniguchi, Mateo Cole and Michael Sahagun all competed hard in the meet, raising personal bars from last year's performances at the Pomona Invitational.
The Lady Leopards raised their level in the meet in comparison to last year, a true indication of the work put in during the offseason and the current season. The Leos managed to have a top-five average that was over forty-five seconds faster than last week. Victoria Medrano and Destiny Espinoza-Guerrero ran great races and Sydne Ruiz ran 20s faster than her best time on the same course last year.
Coach Norton understands the balance between training and recovery and is making a significant point to make recovery a big part of the upcoming week. "This upcoming week of training is all about recovery. We have been pushing hard since August and this will be the first week we really adjust training to prime the group to run fast. We will be split between the UCR Highlander invite and the Connecticut college invite, both of which will be great opportunities for the athletes running to get personal records and experience strong competition. All signs are pointing in the right direction for this group, now we just have to rest up and go do it."
The Leopards will be on the road across America on October 15, competing at the Connecticut College Invitational in New London, Connecticut and at the UCR Highlander Invite in Riverside, California.
