Pepperdine University
NCAA West Regional
Cross Country Runs Friday at West Regional
11/7/2018 12:45:00 PM | Cross Country
MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's and women's cross country teams return to Sacramento for the second time this season as the Waves compete at the NCAA West Regional on Friday.
MEET DETAILS
The race, which is being hosted by Sacramento State, will be held at the Haggin Oaks Golf Course in Sacramento, California. The women's 6K is at 11 a.m., followed by the men's 10K at noon.
The Waves ran at this course back on September 29 at the Capital Cross Challenge, as the men came in second among Division I teams and third overall, while the women were 15th.
MEN'S TEAM
The Waves' lone senior, Nick Heath (Scotts Valley, Calif./Scotts Valley HS), will close out his Pepperdine cross country career looking for a strong finish. He set the Waves' 10K record at the 2016 NCAA West Regional and finished 35th in that race, best in program history. Last year, he was a team-best 59th. Heath was named to the West Coast Conference's All-Academic first team for the third time earlier this week, and he's also a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District first team honoree.
Last year, the Waves finished in 18th place as a team at the West Regional, their best showing since 2001, and they expect to make another jump this year.
Pepperdine achieved its first-ever West Region ranking on October 1 when the Waves were listed at #13. They moved to #14 on October 15 and are currently #15.
Six other returning Waves put their name on the school's all-time 10K list at last year's NCAA West Regional: sophomore Alex Egan (Escondido, Calif./San Pasqual HS) in sixth, junior Jalen Frantal (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central HS) in seventh, sophomore Preston Gromer (Casper, Wyo./Kelly Walsh HS) in 10th, sophomore Kyle Johnson (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester HS) in 12th and sophomore Justin Touhey (Stony Point, N.Y./Don Bosco Preparatory HS) in 19th.
WOMEN'S TEAM
Sophomore Abbey Meck (Santa Cruz, Calif./San Lorenzo Valley HS) has been the Waves' top finisher at all 11 meets she's run in her career. She moved up to #5 on Pepperdine's all-time 6K list with a 21:36.8 at the Bronco Invitational.
The team's #2-5 runners at the WCC Championships were sophomore Lindsay Sanger (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson HS), freshman Riley Wright (Chandler, Ariz./Corona Del Sol HS), freshman Key Pearson (Bainbridge Island, Wash./Vistamar School) and freshman Shelby White (San Antonio, Texas/Winston Churchill HS).
QUOTABLE
Head coach Robert Radnoti says: "Since we first arrived back in August, this is the one we've been pointing toward. It's up in Sacramento, we ran the course earlier this season, and everyone's pumped and excited. I expect we'll have some good PRs with the women and they're primed to finish the season really well. Our men's team will bounced back from the WCC Championships. We didn't run as well as we hoped for all sorts of reasons, but they're pretty pumped. They do have to move up to the 10K from the 8K that we normally run throughout the season. We've been preparing for that. I think we'll have our best performances ever."
Â
Players Mentioned
