Long Beach State Travels to Palo Alto

Long Beach State Travels to Stanford
49ers Expecting to Improve on Last Year's Finishes

September 27, 2006

LONG BEACH, CA -- The Long Beach State men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to Palo Alto this Saturday to compete in the Stanford Invitational with the women’s 6K set to start at 5:22 p.m., followed by the men’s 8K at 5:48 p.m.

Both teams are expecting to improve on their finishes from last year in Palo Alto, where the men finished sixth (153) and the women seventh (199).

Top returnee, Wolhan Ovalle, ran a personal-best 24:46.6 at Stanford last year, which is also the seventh fastest 8K time in LBSU history. Ovalle has been making progress as the 49ers top runner, coming off a fifth place finish at the Aztec Invitational. Dylan Jaedtke is also projected to be a top-scorer for the 49ers as he opens his 2006 campaign this weekend.

“We are looking forward to seeing Dylan run on Saturday and we are expecting him to be one of our top runners, “ said Matt Roe, Long Beach State's Distance Coach. “He is looking really good after recovering from an injury this past summer.”

With four of the top-five finishers from last year’s meet returning, the women have lofty expectations and should be able to place higher this year. Meredith Kramon, who was recently named the Big West Conference Athlete of the Week following a personal- best 18:01 at the Aztec Invitational, is expected to lead the 49er pack. She should be followed closely by Nicole Blalock, Jenessa Botello and Ludi Valdez.

“The women’s team will be more rested for this meet and it should show in our results,” Roe said. “We are looking to close the gap between our first and fifth runners this weekend. That will be key to our success.”

Long Beach State University Athletics

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