Moorpark’s Women’s Cross Country team kicked off their season with a running start and a positive attitude going forward.
The Lady Raiders are coming back from a strong 2012 season as a team and have a few stand out returning sophomores that are helping pave the way to another successful season.
“Everyone on our team makes a huge difference because we have a team full of wonderful, positive, and hardworking young women,” said Traycie Kephart, Women’s Cross Country Coach.
Two standout returning sophomores, Karla Vernola from Simi Valley High School and Rachel Naumann from Camarillo High School, entered the season with high expectations.
“So far I feel like our season is going well. We have a solid group of runners and everyone gets along great,” said Vernola .
Freshman Sierra Kapin is also an outstanding runner so far this season and only hopes to improve as the season progresses.
Entering the 2013 season, there are currently 12 runners on the team, but only the top five runners are able to score in meets. Cross country runners do place individually, but when they place high, the team benefits from it.
The Women’s Cross Country team competes in the Western State Conference (WSC), an elite conference compiled of 13 teams. This conference is bigger than most of the sports conferences that Moorpark College sports participate in.
The Raiders entered the WSC prelims on Oct. 4, at Arroyo Verde Park in Ventura. They raced against all 13 WSC teams in the windy and hilly course according to Kephart.
Rachel Naumann was the meet winner, finishing in a time of 20 minutes and 30 seconds, which was an astounding 24 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Karla Vernola finished sixth place in a time of 22 minutes and 7 seconds. Sierra Kapin finished in fifteenth place while sophomore Aleesha Flugum finished twentieth. As a team, the Raiders finished second place, just 13 points behind Glendale College.
The Raiders will compete in the Mt. Sac invitational Friday, Oct. 18 and the WSC championship which will take place on Thursday, Oct. 24 at Oxnard College.
