CLARION, Pa. – Nathaniel Lerch, a senior from Clarion Area High School, committed to run Cross Country and Track for Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, on April 21, 2020.

(PICTURED: Nathaniel Lerch with parents Tammy and Matt Lerch.)

Pepperdine is a Division I University competing in the West Coast Conference, competing against Brigham Young University, Gonzaga University, and Loyola Marymount University among others. Lerch will be entering his freshman year pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry on a pre-medical track. Subsequently, Lerch plans on entering his long sought after passion, veterinary school.

Lerch was the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference MVP for five years in junior and senior high school. During his tenure on the Clarion Bobcat High School team, Lerch qualified all four years for the Pennsylvania State Cross Country Championships, two of the years in which the Clarion team qualified for States including his senior year. His senior year pinnacle resulted in the District 9 crown in the fall of 2019, defeating long standing competitors. Lerch led the Bobcat Cross Country team as team captain for three straight years.

Clarion Area Bobcat head cross country Coach Keith Murtha and Assistant Coach Bill Grove mentored Lerch throughout his Bobcat years with team leaders who helped develop his distance racing acumen. Additionally, his mother who is the Clarion Area cross country Assistant Coach, Tammy Lerch, was influential in Lerch’s training well before he began running for Clarion Area. During track season, Lerch was instructed by distance Coach BJ Roth, enhancing his training regiment throughout the years.

With such solid underpinnings during his high school career, Lerch plans on carrying on the Bobcat traditions, trailblazed by many before him, well into his college career.

Pepperdine Cross Country Team