WCC All-Academic Awards Handed Out for Cross Country

MALIBU, California – Nick Heath and Tatum Rask of the Pepperdine men's and women's cross country teams repeated as West Coast Conference All-Academic first team honorees, and a total of nine Waves collected academic honors from the conference this week.

To qualify for WCC All-Academic consideration, runners must have at least a 3.2 grade-point average, have at least sophomore standing and have competed in at least half of the meets this season.

Heath (Scotts Valley, Calif./Scotts Valley HS), a senior finance major, boasts a 3.99 grade-point average. He is now a three-time first team selection, only the fourth Pepperdine men's cross country student-athlete ever to achieve that feat. Heath is Pepperdine's school-record holder in the 8K and 10K.

Rask (Highlands Ranch, Colo./ThunderRidge HS), a junior political science major, has a 3.97 grade-point average. She's the first Pepperdine women's runner to repeat on the first team since 2011.

Four Pepperdine women earned WCC All-Academic honorable mention status: juniors Izabela Garcia-Arce (Bonita, Calif./Bonita Vista HS) and Cori Persinger (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit West HS) and sophomores Caroline Archer (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood Academy) and Lindsay Sanger (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson HS).

Three Pepperdine men made honorable mention: junior Adam Fahey (Clearwater, Fla./Palm Harbor University HS) and sophomores Alex Egan (Escondido, Calif./San Pasqual HS) and Preston Gromer (Casper, Wyo./Kelly Walsh HS).

Garcia-Arce and Fahey earned their second straight honorable mention nods.

In 13 seasons as head coach, Robert Radnoti's runners have now earned WCC All-Academic honors 91 times.

Pepperdine runs at the NCAA West Regional this Friday (Nov. 9) in Sacramento.

WCC All-Academic Awards Handed Out for Cross Country

Players Mentioned

Caroline Archer

Alex Egan

Adam Fahey

Izabela Garcia-Arce

Preston Gromer

Nick Heath

Cori Persinger

Tatum Rask

Lindsay Sanger

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