Waves Get 2015 Track Season Underway at Westmont

Feb. 21, 2015

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Katie Engel's near-school record in the mile highlighted the first track meet of the 2015 season for Pepperdine, as the Waves competed against host Westmont and UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.

Engel (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima HS), a junior, came in fifth place in the mile with a time of 5:15.35, just .17 of a second behind Aneasha Lawrence's record of 5:15.18 set in 2012. Engel's previous best was 5:30.76 in 2013. She also came in fifth place in the 3,000 meters.

"This was a good first meet for the team," Pepperdine Coach Robert Radnoti said. "We've been training for six or seven weeks now and I think it was an eye-opener for a lot of them. It was a good day against some good competition. Our runners did well, they see how much they need to improve, and they'll get after it.

"Katie just missed a school record, so she's off to a really good start, and that's exciting."

Freshman Claudia Rodriguez (Nashville, Tenn./ Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet HS) made her debut with a third-place finish in the 100 meters with a time of 13.46 seconds.

The top Waves in the other women's events included freshman Madison Blume (Glendora, Calif./St. Lucy's Priory HS) in the 200 meters, sophomore Jordan Spencer (Grand Prairie, Texas/South Grand Prairie HS) in the 400 meters, junior Stasia Demick (Seattle, Wash./Holy Names Academy) in the 800 meters, sophomore Tori Occhipinti (Coto de Caza, Calif./Crean Lutheran HS) in the 100 hurdles and freshman Madison Hays (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge HS) in the 400 hurdles.

The men were led by freshman Kyle Cajero (Tucson, Ariz./Pusch Ridge Christian Academy), who came in fourth place in the 400 meters. He was followed by sophomore Torin Wile (Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice HS) in seventh place.

"Kyle and Torin had good starts to the season," Radnoti said. "I'm proud of how the two of them have really established themselves in the 800 meters."

Pepperdine's next meet is March 6-7 at the Cunningham Track Classic, hosted by UNLV.

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