Pepperdine University
Bronco Invitational
Cross Country Set for Bronco Invitational
10/11/2018 10:18:00 AM | Cross Country
MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's and women's cross country teams finish off the regular-season portion of their schedule on Saturday morning when the Waves run at Santa Clara's Bronco Invitational. This is the men's team's first race since achieving its first-ever West Region ranking of #13.
MEET DETAILS
The race will be held at Baylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale, Calif. The men's 8K is at 8:45 a.m., followed by the women's 6K at 9:30 a.m.
MEN'S TEAM
The men are coming off a performance at the Capital Cross Challenge where they finished first among all Division I teams, and second overall. Sophomore Kyle Johnson (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester HS) led the team for the second time in his career and placed 12th.
Senior Nick Heath (Scotts Valley, Calif./Scotts Valley HS) is the school-record holder in both the 8K and 10K, plus he's come in first place four times in his three seasons. Heath became the first Wave to receive all-conference status since 2007, as he placed 15th last year to earn All-WCC honorable mention honors. He was named to the 2018 preseason All-WCC team. Plus, he's twice earned CoSIDA Academic All-District first team honors for his work in the classroom.
At the Capital Cross Challenge, behind Johnson the Waves' #2-5 runners were freshman Karl Winter (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's HS), Heath, sophomore Justin Touhey (Stony Point, N.Y./Don Bosco Preparatory HS), and sophomore Preston Gromer (Casper, Wyo./Kelly Walsh HS).
Behind Heath on the Waves' all-time 8K list are Johnson in fourth, Winter in fifth, Touhey in seventh, Gromer in 11th, freshman Jackson Felkins (Southlake, Texas/Carroll Senior HS) in 14th and junior Jalen Frantal (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central HS) in 17th.
WOMEN'S TEAM
Sophomore Abbey Meck (Santa Cruz, Calif./San Lorenzo Valley HS) has been the Waves' top finisher at all nine meets she's run in her career. She has moved up to #6 on Pepperdine's all-time 6K list (21:53 at the Cougar Classic) and is #7 on the 5K list.
The team's #2-5 runners at the Capital Cross Challenge were sophomore Caroline Archer (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood Academy), sophomore Lindsay Sanger (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson HS), freshman Riley Wright (Chandler, Ariz./Corona Del Sol HS) and freshman Shelby White (San Antonio, Texas/Winston Churchill HS).
QUOTABLE
Head coach Robert Radnoti says: "Things are looking really good. This is our last race where everyone gets to compete. After this we'll cut down to nine for the WCCs, and seven for the NCAA West Regional. Training is going really well and most everyone is in very good shape. This course is really fast. I think everyone's really excited to go up to Santa Clara and race this weekend.
UP NEXT
The West Coast Conference Championships will be hosted by BYU on October 27.
Players Mentioned
