Freshmen power cross country to third place finish


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Freshman Lucy Westlake and Ashlee Gallegos led the Trojans with 11th place and 15th place finishes, respectively. (Tomoki Chien | Daily Trojan)

The freshmen showed out Saturday, leading the cross country team to a third-place finish at the Mark Covert Classic.

Freshman Lucy Westlake crossed the line first for the Trojans, running an 11th place, 19:09 5k in the muggy morning heat. She was quickly followed by fellow freshman Ashlee Gallegos, who posted a 15th place, 19:14.

“The team did a great job of executing the mission and the goals,” said associate head coach Jebreh Harris. “We [did] a good job of pushing out like we wanted to and we were together … that first mile, mile and a half.”

In an interview last week with the Daily Trojan, Harris said he wanted his runners to stick together for the first portion of the race, then push it after the first half. That is in fact what happened: Seven of the team’s eight runners moved up in place over the last third of the race.

The team’s scorers after Westlake and Gallegos were senior Janiah Brown (28th, 19:39), senior Mihajla Milovanovic (42nd, 19:57) and sophomore Giovanna Pisano (54th, 20:11). Sophomores Gigi Maccagnini and Maya Lacamp didn’t race.

“It was so great to just go out and be with the team,” Westlake said. “We stayed as a pack together the first mile which was super, super helpful, and then just kind of ran all our own races. I don’t think it could have gone better.”

Harris pointed to the strong freshman finishes as evidence of progress in the cross country program, and said he hopes to continue the trend in recruiting robust freshman classes. The Trojans compete next on Sept. 17 at the UC Riverside Invitational — a meet that has historically seen tougher competition than the Mark Covert Classic.

“I saw great energy,” Harris said. “I saw teammates run for other teammates, and I saw them having fun.”