Cross country season begins with UC Irvine Invite
ORANGE, Calif. – A core group of six returners along with 16 new faces make up the Chapman University men's and women's cross country team in 2012, which begins its season on Saturday, Sept. 8 at the UC Irvine Invitational. Of the Panthers' six returners, just two are upperclassmen and there are just three upperclassmen overall on the team's roster.
Both the men's and women's team each have three returners in 2012. As Chapman's top runner in five of the team's eight meets in 2011, sophomore Nicole Jourdain is the top returner on the women's side. Jourdain had a season-best 5k time of 22:23.6 at the Biola Invitational and a 6k time of 26:45 at the Stanford Invitational.
The other two returners for the women are junior Paulette Garcia and sophomore Lisa Peterkin. Garcia peeked for Chapman at the end of the season, finishing with the squads best time at the SCIAC Championships and NCAA Division III Regionals. Her 26:34.7 6k time at regionals was her top time for that distance on the season. Also expected to make a big impact for the women is sophomore newcomer Emily Ralston.
Back for the men are a pair of sophomores in Spencer Berry and Chad King who both got valuable experience as freshmen, along with senior David Andre. Berry paced the Panthers in all but one race in 2011, the other runner being King. At the UC Irvine Invite last season, Berry had his best finish, in 49th place. A week later, Berry ran his best time in the 8k for the season, finishing with a time of 26:42.5 at the U.C. Riverside Invite. A group of freshmen in Michael Chan, Chris Reid, Shaun Yee and Josh Nudelman should play a significant role for the men's team as well.
by Chris Watts
Sports Information Assistant
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