Pepperdine University
Stanford Invitational
Engel, Maeda Lead Waves at Stanford Invitational
9/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
PALO ALTO, Calif. - At Saturday's Stanford Invitational, junior Katie Engel led the Pepperdine women's cross country team to the finish line for the seventh time in her last nine races, while freshman Kevin Maeda led the men for the second time this year.
Out of 330 women's runners in the 6K, Engel (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima HS) placed a respectable 57th overall in a time of 22:25. It was a 21-second improvement from her time last year on the Stanford Golf Course. She's been the Waves' top finisher at all three meets this season.
Sophomore Lindsay Sheaffer (Portland, Ore./Jesuit HS) and senior Lisa Santroch (Shoreline, Wash./Shorewood HS) also had top-half finishes for the Waves, while sophomore Sydney Gray (Bellingham, Wash./Meridian HS) and freshman Terra Atwood (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo HS) were the other scorers.
"Katie was our best runner again and showed good improvement from last year, which was really good," Pepperdine Coach Robert Radnoti said. "Lindsay ran a nice race. She's been more of a middle-distance-type runner, but she's really stepped it up. Lisa had a very good finish too. Those three continue to lead the team, and hopefully we'll get some of our other injured runners back and finish the season up strong."
Out of 361 men's runners in the 8K, Maeda (Highland, Calif./Citrus Valley HS) came in 207th overall with a time of 25:59. That was a full 1 1/2 minutes better than any other Wave ran here last season.
Also scoring for the men were sophomore Gordie Thomas (Fallbrook, Calif./Great Oak HS), sophomore Ben Fox (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain HS), freshman Rudy Gonzalez (Whittier, Calif./California HS) and sophomore Aric Crowell (Claremont, Calif./Claremont HS).
"Kevin broke 26 minutes for the first time and that's really positive," Radnoti said. "Our goal is to get all of our freshmen under 26, so he's the first one there. We only had a 36-second gap from one to five, and you're always trying to reduce that gap, so I'm pleased with that. It was a nice race for the guys, most of them improved by a minute or two. We've made a lot of progress and there's a long way to go, but we've got really good spirit and positive energy."
Both teams finished 17th in the standings.
The Stanford Golf Course is also the site of this year's NCAA West Regional, so the Waves will be back to run the course a second time on Nov. 14. In three weeks (Oct. 18), Pepperdine will run its next race, the UC Riverside Highlander Invitational, which will be the team's final tuneup before the West Coast Conference Championships.
