To grandmother's house LV goes

by Chrissy Zehrbach
Assistant Editor

The University of La Verne cross country team wrapped up its 2002 season this weekend in regional competition at Prado Park in Chino.

ULV hosted the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III West Region meet at the same course where the men won a third place Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference finish last week.

Thirteen men's teams competed in the 8,000-meter race for the regional title. Willamette University won the race with 46 points, followed by the University of Puget Sound with 50 and the defending champion Claremont-Mudd-Scripps with 54. La Verne finished ninth with 225 points.

"We did the best we could; we ran our hardest," said junior Frank Huerta.

The Leopards' front runner was sophomore Cecilo Barrera, who finished in 27:04.37, placing 25th out of the 99 racers.

Huerta finished next for the Leopards in 34th place. Huerta improved his time from the previous meet, finishing in 27:32.17.

Both Barrera and Huerta recorded times that qualified them for the All Western Region Team.

Also contributing times to the Leopards' score were junior Jose Jimenez (28:08.28) in 48th place, freshman Aaron Hurtado (28:33.55) in 57th, freshman Joshua Abbott (29:39.29) in 71st and sophomore Kelly Wood (30:11.42) in 75th place.

The women's 6,000-meter race was won by junior Angela Jacquez of CMS in 21:53. CMS grabbed second place with 67 points. The Athenas finished one point behind Whitworth University, which won the race with 66 points.

Sophomore Amby Sarabia was the only woman representing ULV Saturday.

As an individual racer, Sarabia finished the race 66th out of 106 runners with a time of 25:28.00.

"It felt really scary," Sarabia said. "There was no one else to lean on; it was just me."

It was a rocky season for the ULV women, who finished seventh in SCIAC after taking an incomplete at conference championships for not running with a complete team of five.

"We did well in the beginning, but we kind of fell apart in the end," Sarabia said.

Head coach Pat Widolff said, despite an uneventful ending, he is satisfied looking back at the success of the season.

"Overall I was really happy, especially with the men; they're a really good team," he said.

The team shares Widolff's opinion.

"It took a lot to get here (regionals)," Huerta said. "It was a good season; I'm not disappointed with it at all. This is the best team we've had. We work hard and have a lot of dedication."

With competition ending, the focus has already shifted toward next year's season.

"We don't have any seniors," Widolff said. "They're all back for next year, so we should be excellent."