Pepperdine University
NCAA West Regional
Cross Country Season Concludes at NCAA West Regional
11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
SEATTLE, Wash. -- As has been the case all season long, senior Katie Engel and freshman Nick Heath were the top finishers for the Pepperdine women's and men's cross country teams as the Waves concluded the 2015 season at the NCAA West Regional Championship on Friday.
Engel (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima HS) came in 61st place overall in the women's 6K with a time of 21:43.8. It was a career-best performance for Engel at the West Regional, who placed 98th, 95th and 165th in her previous three tries. It was the best finish by any Wave at the West Regional since 2010.
Engel, competing in her final college cross country meet, was Pepperdine's top runner in 18 of the 25 races she competed in over four years.
Pepperdine's only other competitor in the women's race was senior Mariah Gondeiro (Raynesford, Mont./Belt HS/Rocky Mountain College), who came in 236th place.
Heath (Scotts Valley, Calif./Scotts Valley HS) led a contingent of five Pepperdine men in the 10K, as he took 109th place with a time of 33:24.4. That's the best finish by a Pepperdine male at the West Regional since 2008.
Also scoring for the Waves, who came in 27th out of 30 teams (defeating Sacramento State, San Diego and Cal State Northridge), were sophomore Nick Blanchard (Portland, Conn./Portland HS), junior Ben Fox (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain HS), sophomore Rudy Gonzalez (Whittier, Calif./California HS) and freshman Trevor Sytsma (Renton, Wash./Liberty HS). Those four came in 143rd, 157th, 185th and 202nd, respectively.
The meet, hosted by Washington on a rainy day, was held at the Jefferson Park Golf Club.
"There were pretty rough conditions today," Pepperdine Coach Robert Radnoti said. "This storm comes in every November up here and dumps a lot of rain, and it kind of peaked during today's races.
"Katie ran a really, really nice race for her. I think she's pleased with the final race of her cross country career. On the men's side we wanted to run as a pack, though it didn't turn out so much that way. Nick ran a pretty good race, but with the weather conditions it's hard to tell how good everybody's times could have been. Our teams will get stronger as we continue to build them up, and now we're looking forward to track season, including having the women run indoor track for the first time, as well as having the entire men's team be able to run outdoor track this year."
