Leading the women’s cross-country and track team at the UC Irvine Invitational Saturday, Andrea Webber, pushed through and led in the highly competitive 5,000m run.
Coming in with a respectable time of 21:06, Webber managed to push herself and placed 87th, finishing on top among the women’s team.
“We are still in a building phase and I suspect that, freshman, Webber and, sophomore, Naomi Altamirano will run closely together and work with each other to run solidly and place as far up in the field as they can,” Dean Lofgren, coach, said.
Altamirano determined to keep up, placed in 102nd place with the time of 21:24 while Milchu Perez finished in 145th place, finishing with the time of 23:17.
Lofgren said the women’s cross-country and track team had stiff competition from many major universities this meet.
The team was competing against UC Irvine, Fresno State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC San Diego and CSU Northridge to name a few.
The team’s main focus for the first few weeks is aimed at getting many training miles and preparing for the championship races that take place in October and November, Lofgren said.
“We have approximately 10 weeks until the ultimate competition, the state championships on November 20. So we run and train everyday and log somewhere in the 8 to 12 miles a day range,” Lofgren said.
The cross-country and track team have many days ahead of training for the championship races, but one assurance is that the EC women’s team is anything but quitters.
“Both teams are dedicated and disciplined, something that is required of our sport,” Lofgren said.