Cross country preps for championships

To say that the USC women’s cross country team is young is an understatement.

Eight of the 11 competitors running for USC are underclassmen — six of those being either sophomores or redshirt sophomores. In fact, the team boasts only two redshirt seniors on its roster this season.

It’s the team’s youth that keeps the program looking forward.

“It’s been really exciting to see their development throughout the past year and into this year,” said David Freeman, head coach of the women’s cross country team. “The future is bright for us because we are young with all of the freshman and sophomore runners we have right now. It’s just the growing process that we are going through right now.”

USC finished fifth overall — in a field of seven teams — at the Highlander Invitational in Riverside last Saturday. The team now looks toward Pac-12 Championships on Oct. 28 in Tucson, Arizona.

Sophomore Sophia Racette has been the top performer for the Women of Troy this season. Racette, who did not compete her freshman year due to injury, has been the top-finisher for USC in all three races that she has run this season. At the Highlander Invitational, Racette finished fourth overall as an individual, posting a personal-best time in the 5K race (17:27.93). Racette also achieved a personal-best in the 6K race (21:12.1) at the UC Riverside Invitational on Sept. 17.

“She’s becoming a pretty good runner. This is her first real year running cross country, so she’s still learning how to race against a bigger crowd and maneuver the race track,” Freeman said. “But overall, she’s doing great and really leading the way for us.”

Five of USC’s nine runners at the Highlander Invitational achieved either personal or collegiate-bests at the meet.

Sophomore Amber Gore, who finished 12th overall at the Highlander Invitational, was the second-fastest USC finisher and achieved a collegiate-best time in the 5K race (17:49.38) in Riverside last weekend.

“Everyone is improving with every race, and we just have such a great team chemistry. It just makes me so excited to go out there and run with them,” said Gore, who has hit a personal-best in the 6K race as well this season (21:37.30). “We’re accomplishing a lot of goals right now, so it just makes our team look forward to the future.”

On Nov. 11, the team took first place at the Pepperdine Invitational in a five-team field that included Long Beach State, UC Irvine and host Pepperdine. USC also logged a seventh and 13th-place finish at the UC Riverside Invitational and NCAA West Region Preview races, respectively.

The team was scheduled to compete at the Titan Invitational in Fullerton Friday but has since announced it will forgo this race. The decision was made due to the team’s need for rest entering Pac-12 Championships, according to Freeman.

When the Women of Troy hit the road for Pac-12 Championships next week, they will be pitted against the elite of the elite in collegiate cross country today. The Pac-12 Conference has seven of its 12 programs ranked in the top-25 nationally — including three which are ranked in the top five.

“Our goal is really to just get better … if we can [hit personal-bests] across the board and have a strong team finish, that’s as much as you can ask for,” Freeman said. “It’s really going to be about going out there and running against the best — competing against the best. We’ll see where we stack up and learn from that experience. We can grow from that experience.”

Following the Pac-12 Championships, USC will compete at the NCAA West Regional Championships on Nov. 11 in Sacramento.