IRVINE, Calif. - A small group of runners turned in a number of season bests on Friday night as the Pepperdine track team began action at the UC Irvine Spring Break Invitational.

The rest of the Waves will be competing on Saturday as the bulk of the events take place.

In the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, senior Lisa Santroch (Shoreline, Wash./Shorewood HS) placed third out of nine runners in a time of 11:25.45, a 13-second improvement from the first time she ran the race this season.

In the women's 5,000 meters, sophomore Elle Lemco (San Jose, Calif./Prospect HS) came in 10th place with a time of 18:02.16, more than a minute better than her previous time this year. Junior Katie Engel (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima HS) also competed.

And in the men's 5,000 meters, freshman Kevin Maeda (Highland, Calif./Citrus Valley HS) posted a 10-second improvement with his time of 15:31.43. Freshman Rudy Gonzalez (Whittier, Calif./California HS) ran the race for the first time.