USC Cross Country To Open Season At Pepperdine Friday

The USC women's cross country team will open its season at the 4K Pepperdine Invitational in Malibu, Calif. on Friday, Sept. 1 at 4 p.m. The majority of the team is expected to compete and new coach Patrick Henner stated that one of the top priorities this season and at this meet in particular is building a race model: "We want to learn how to build intensity so we may exaggerate that a little this weekend. We are going to run the first fourth of the race really easy and make sure that we are running really hard and fast at the end of the race. So we are not as much concerned about the times or the place, but really focused on how to run the race."

The following is the 2017 USC women's cross country season outlook by coach Henner:

I am very excited for my first season at USC as the distances coach. I am still getting to know the women on the cross country team but I am very pleased with the talent level I see. The Pac-12 is perhaps the toughest distance conference in the country, so I know we have a long ways to go, but I believe this team can make great strides as the season unfolds and establish the foundation for future success. I've been really pleased with the attitude and work ethic and I really feel over the course of time that we can build this as a core group to where we are a competitive cross country and distance squad.

It is going to be a process. That is the thing about distance running…it is not immediate results. It takes time to build up the base that we need to establish. We are working on getting the women to be able to have the durability to do the type of training it is going to require. Me as a coach, I'm stressing patience, patience… this is a long term process.

This season we really want to establish all of the training, fundamentals and just to learn how to race. That is something we can build on during the indoor and outdoor seasons and then by the time we get to this point next year, I feel we are going to be in a very good place.

I'm really pleased with their athleticism, just their leg speed, their agility and like I said their attitude and work ethic. Now we have to keep building on the aerobic component so they can tolerate more and more volume in the workouts themselves. That is something that you can't rush forward, you have to be patient and let it take its time to develop. Trying to keep everybody healthy is one of the biggest priorities.

I think the first step is to build a race model and really learn how to race. That is going to carry over to track and field and into the middle distance and distance events and that is what is going to bring us the long term success.

Our top two returning runners would have to be junior Amber Gore and redshirt junior Madison Ricks, but I am pleased with the vast majority of the team. If I had to single out one standout with workouts and leadership it would be Gore. She came in from the summer in great shape and has been a consistent leader in the workouts. Ricks has also been running very well and is an important part of our team.
We have a solid returning group which included sophomores Chloe Berry and Kamryn Weber and juniors Rachel Glynn, Lauren Maurer and Mikaela Smith.

Our newcomers are very talented and include junior transfer Angel Vallier and freshmen Julia Bounds, Jennifer Daly, Mackenzie Ellison and Sydney Tullai. Tullai has been great on the distances and the other 800m runners have done well, too. Julia Bounds has done a great job as well and will run the steeplechase for us in the spring.

I like the makeup of the group and the main goal for this season is to help everyone get better. We have a lot of talent in the group and I believe we are developing a strong foundation for the future of the distance program. It can't happen overnight, but with a lot of patience and hard work I believe we can accomplish great things here at USC.

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Players Mentioned

Chloe Berry

Julia Bounds

Jennifer Daly

Rachel Glynn

Amber Gore

Lauren Maurer

Madison Ricks

Mikaela Smith

Sydney Tullai

Angel Vallier

Kamryn Weber