California Lutheran University’s cross-country team ran together in packs at the Master’s Invitational to gear up for their important upcoming race, the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational.
At the meet on Sept. 29 in Santa Clarita, the team worked collectively to stay within the same time frame of one another.
“We’ve had a really hard last two weeks,” first-time cross-country runner Cameron Baggs said. “This meet, we weren’t really racing. We treated it as more of a workout; we’re just trying to get into the best shape we can for Pomona.”
Baggs beat her personal record with a time of 21:52.3.
“It was weird because it was more of a workout but it was really exciting,” Baggs said.
During this race, rather than perfecting their times, the team focused on group work and communication.
“We still had the race mindset today, but we tried to have a more conservative approach versus the first couple of races. I really wanted them to focus on being conservative at the start of the race and then really attack the second half of the race instead of maintaining, just really pushing the last half of the race,” Coach Brett Halvaks said.
Junior Rachel Ereso said she felt confident with her performance.
“It’s really nice to stay in groups and have teammates around you, especially in big meets. I gave a full effort and I feel like I did a really good job picking it up today,” Ereso said.
Halvaks said the team does not usually race back-to-back because it does not give them any time to recover, but they could not get around it due to scheduling.
Halvaks decided to try a new approach this meet and have the team run in packs and wait until the very last mile to give it their all. He said it made sense to have them run together at the same pace because the athletes have typically finish with very similar times.
“I really try and be positive for our workouts. I cheer for them and I try and hype them up before. I let them know it’s going to hurt, but it’s just a workout. For races…I try and give them a pep talk. Just one more mile guys!” team captain Rigoberto Baza Carillo said.
Baza Carillo beat his previous time by about six seconds with a time of 27:43.3. He said he is very satisfied with his results.
Halvaks said that he plans to go easier on the team’s workouts in preparation for the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 7:45 a.m.
“We had some really great performances,” Halvaks said. “We accomplished everything we wanted to today. I think we got a little bit better, which was the goal. I think next weekend we can really go out there and really have a strong performance. Our motto is to train hard and get better every day.”
Rose Riehl
Reporter