Despite battling the flu and the heat, the USC women’s cross country team has second-place finish

With temperatures approaching 100 degrees in the San Fernando Valley on Friday, the USC Women’s Cross Country team did not wilt in the heat at the Cal State Northridge Invitational.

The Women of Troy turned in their second consecutive strong performance, finishing 2nd overall to Cal State Fullerton in a race shortened from a 6K to a 5K due to scorching temperatures in Van Nuys.

The temperature at race time was 98 degrees with 16 percent humidity. Coach Tom Walsh said he agreed with the decision to shorten the race.

“It was the right way to go,” Walsh said. “With the intense heat, you don’t want to take a chance with the health of the athletes. It wasn’t worth it.”

Even in the heat, USC fulfilled Walsh’s expectations. Several runners turned in solid performances, including freshman Theresa Kurth, who was USC’s fourth runner on Friday. Junior Zsofia Erdelyi finished 3rd overall to lead the Women of Troy, despite suffering from a flu bug which has plagued her and the team for most of the season.

“The fact that she is still sick has me very concerned,” Walsh said of his star runner. “I thought the flu had moved through but the fact that it is still here means we’ll have to keep monitoring our health and make sure we avoid really getting sick.”

Junior Christine Cortez continued to look like USC’s second-in-command runner, finishing 13th overall, and senior captain Bridget Helgerson was right behind her, finishing 16th. Kurth was 4th for USC, and rounding out the top 5 was junior Zara Lukens, who was 20th overall. Walsh was especially pleased with how the team ran as a collective group.

“We finally put together a really strong start to the race,” Walsh said. “They were very aggressive. They ran their fastest first miles of the season. If we can combine the first half of this Northridge race with the second half of the Vanguard meet, we’ll be in great shape.”

With Pac-10 Championships less than two weeks away, Walsh says that Friday’s meet made it much more complicated for him to choose his final roster.

“Some of the performances on Friday have made things a bit difficult,” Walsh said. “I was really impressed with Theresa Kurth and a few others who I didn’t expect to be up there.”

Walsh said he expects to pick which runners he will take the Pac-10’s later this week, and send those who are not running to Friday’s Cal State Fullerton Invitational. With his team performing at a high level, though, Walsh says health, not performance, is his biggest concern heading into the season’s homestretch.

“The pieces are there for a strong showing at Pac-10’s,” Walsh said. “It’s just this flu bug that we’ve got to get over. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”