Outdoor Track Season Starts Saturday at Westmont
2/16/2017 12:00:00 AM | Track
MALIBU, California " Outdoor track season starts Saturday for Pepperdine with its annual tri-meet hosted by Westmont College and also including UC Santa Barbara.
The women competed in a pair of indoor meets in January, while this will be the first competition of 2017 for the men.
"Our indoor season gave the women a leg up on the outdoor season," 11th-year Pepperdine Coach Robert Radnoti said. "For the men it's the first meet and they've been training hard for it."
Saturday's meet begins at 11 a.m., with running events commencing at noon.
"This is a friendly competition in a really nice setting," Radnoti said. "The competition is excellent. With only three teams, the meet goes quickly, but everyone gets to compete. The early meets are really just to see where we're at. Training has been going well but it's also been a bit a challenge with all the rain, but that's also been good because it teaches you to deal with adversity."
The women's roster includes 12 returners and 15 newcomers. The men's breakdown is eight and five, respectively.
All eyes will be on the Waves' top two returners who both hold multiple school records, senior Izzy Connell (Campbell, Calif./The Harker School) and sophomore Nick Heath (Scotts Valley, Calif./Scotts Valley HS).
Connell already holds the women's outdoor records in the 100, 200 and 400 meters and the indoor marks in the 100 and 400. Heath established men's records in the 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 meters as a freshman last year, and has also run the program's fastest-ever 8K and 10K in cross country.
"Izzy is our strongest returner on the women's side. She's set all of our sprint records," Radnoti said. "Nick has picked up right where he left off in cross country. He's been running outstanding in workouts and I suspect he's going to be an NCAA qualifier this season."
A number of other returners also rank highly on the Waves' all-time lists.
On the women's side, senior Tori Occhipinti (Coto de Caza, Calif./Crean Lutheran HS) holds the 100-meter hurdle record, sophomore Catie Barilla (Alta Loma, Calif./Los Osos HS) holds the 400-meter hurdle record, senior Gabrielle Ellis (Gilbert, Ariz./Highland HS) is #2 in the 100 meters, senior Kendall Dunn (Aurora, Colo./Cheney HS/Arapahoe HS) is #2 in the 400-meter hurdles and junior Claudia Rodriguez (Nashville, Tenn./Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet HS) is #4 in the 400 meters.
For the men, senior Nick Blanchard (Portland, Conn./Portland HS) holds the 1,500-meter record and is #3 in the 3,000 and 5,000, senior Torin Wile (Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice HS) has the 400-meter record is #5 in the 800, senior Ben Fox (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain HS) is #4 in the 3,000 and junior Kevin Maeda (Highland, Calif./Citrus Valley HS) is #5 in the 5,000.
Radnoti noted the immediate promise of freshmen Emma Engelland (Gig Harbor, Wash./Gig Harbor HS), Talya Holenstein (Portland, Ore./La Salle Catholic College Prep) and Treet Allison (Canyon, Texas/Canyon HS), while he's looking to develop a young women's distance core.
Players Mentioned
