By The road Meredith Kramon has taken to become the top cross country runner for the Long Beach State women’s team has been a long and interesting one.
In high school, Kramon was an elite soccer player and received offers to play at universities all over the country.
Because of the weather and the football team, Kramon chose University of Miami. But after one year, the school wasn’t right for her and she headed back to the West Coast to LBSU.
“My first year here I redshirted and I ran a lot,” Kramon said. “I decided to go to the cross country team and asked if I could run for them, they said I could and I have since.”
Kramon misses soccer and watches the LBSU women’s soccer team, but she seems comfortable with her decision to join the cross country team.
This weekend Kramon, along with the rest of the Long Beach State women’s and men’s cross country will travel up Interstate 101 to compete in the Big West Conference championships in San Luis Obispo.
“I’m really excited about this weekend,” Kramon said. “I’m in the best shape I have ever been in. As a team, we’re aiming to finish in second place and to finish ahead on UC Irvine.”
Kramon broke her personal record in the 5K (18:01) this September in San Diego. Kramon is also the all-time record LBSU record holder in the 6K (21:13).
It is unlikely there will be any records broken in San Luis Obispo on Saturday because it is one of the hilliest courses around.
“The course is going to be a challenge,” Kramon said. “But we are a strength- oriented team so the course should be a bigger problem for some of the other teams than it will be for us.”
Nicole Blalock, who has the second fastest time in the 6K (21:30), is one of the few LBSU runners who has ran the course in San Luis Obispo, finishing seventh in 2003.
Blalock ran last week in preparation to the Big West Championships and was the top collegiate runner at the event hosted by Cal State Fullerton, finishing in 18:21.
“I have this weird calf injury, but overall I’m feeling good about this week, and my experience on the course should help me,” Blalock.
Blalock started running cross country in junior high and stuck with it when she realized she was one of the better runners in the area.
“My mom wanted me to do cheerleading and my dad wanted me to be a runner. My mom was a little disappointed, but I think I made the right choice,” Blalock said with a smile.
LBSU head coach Matt Roe is aiming to finish second in the championships this weekend.
“We have a good group of runners, led by Meredith,” Rowe said. “Unless UCSB stumbles, they will probably come in first place, but we will battle UC Irvine and UC Riverside for second place.”
Along with Kramon and Blalock, the 49ers will be looking for contributions from Jenessa Botello, Kristina Wilson and Ludi Valdez in Saturday’s race.
For the men, Row is hoping to repeat last year’s performance at the Big West Championships, when LBSU finished in third place.
LBSU lost their top two runners from last year, Jimmy Grabow and Terrence Wroblewski, and will need a strong outing from No. 1 runner Wolhan Ovalle if the team hopes to finish in third.
The men will also count on Dylan Jaedetke, Jason Burton and Eli Rodriguez.
View Monday’s issue of the Daily Forty-Niner to see how the men and women did in the Big West Championships.
