Wolves Start Off XC Season With 2 Complete Teams

The start of the 2011 PA Cross Country Season started off on the right foot for the Wolfpack Running Club. Both teams finished with top 10 showings at the 11th Annual UC Santa Cruz Challenge.  The women finished 4th, while the men placed 8th!  The challenging 4-mile course tested everyone's current fitness levels and gave many a good chance to dust off the racing legs.  Both races were filled with athletes of all abilities, everything from the new fun-runner up to Olympic Trials qualifiers to other past Olympians! 

(L-R) Susan, Val, Lisa, Claire, Nancy, Michelle, Maria

Seven Lady Wolves toed the line in the first race of the day.  We had a strong showing up front with all five scorers in the top half of the field.  Claire Saxton led the charge with a solid 13th place showing and powered thru the 4-miles of hills in a blistering 25:44.  That time now sits as the 2nd fastest time on the course by an open woman!  Dipping under 27min for the first time in Santa Cruz, Valerie Weilert finished in 31st overall with an official time of 26:58.  Close in tow was Lisa Renteria (27:18) in 35th. In her first venture of the course, Nancy Velasquez notched a nice 28:02 (46th), while Susan Armenta (28:23) completed our scoring with her 52nd place finish. 

(L-R) Jak, Nick, Rigo, Steve, Jason

On the men's side, we scrambled to get all 5 men on the line, but our new Masters runner, Steve Lopez, stepped up and competed in the open race in order for us to have a complete team.   Former Aggie, Jak Kuehn, led the charge for our Wolfpack in his inaugural race in the orange & black.  He clocked a very respectable time of 24:03, good enough for 44th overall.  Not too far behind was Rigo Ramirez (50th, 24:37).  Lopez soon finished with a time of 25:24, which would have placed him 29th in the Masters race.  His time now sits as #2 on our all-time Master's list.  Returning to the cross country scene for the first time in over 10 years, both Nick Piellusch (26:05) and Jason Hervey (29:16) made solid efforts on the trails.  Keep an eye on both of these men over the next few months!

- Complete Results -

Next up on the PA circuit is the Phil Widener Empire Open up in Santa Rosa.