COLFAX, Washington – Abbey Meck and Nick Heath turned in top-10 performances for the Pepperdine women's and men's cross country teams at the Cougar Classic on Friday evening, while the men's squad continued to impress with a second-place team finish.
 
The Pepperdine men tied with host Washington State, ranked #4 in the West Region and #13 nationally, but edged out the Cougars via tiebreaker. The Waves also beat Idaho, #14 in the West.
 
Several Pepperdine men continued to make their way up the record book. Kyle Johnson went from 11th to fourth on the all-time 8K list, while Karl Winter went from ninth to sixth and Preston Gromer went from 16th to 13th.
 
Meck had a PR in the 6K and moved from ninth to sixth place on the women's all-time list.
 
MEN'S 8K LEADERS
 

• Senior Nick Heath (Scotts Valley, Calif./Scotts Valley HS), 10th place, 24:35
• Sophomore Kyle Johnson (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester HS), 11th place, 24:39 (PR)
• Freshman Karl Winter (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's HS), 22nd place, 25:14 (PR)
• Sophomore Justin Touhey (Stony Point, N.Y./Don Bosco Preparatory HS), 23rd place, 25:15 (PR)
• Sophomore Preston Gromer (Casper, Wyo./Kelly Walsh HS), 28th place, 25:28 (PR)

 
WOMEN'S 6K LEADERS
 

• Sophomore Abbey Meck (Santa Cruz, Calif./San Lorenzo Valley HS), ninth place, 21:53 (PR)
• Freshman Shelby White (San Antonio, Texas/Winston Churchill HS), 39th place, 23:11
• Junior Cori Persinger (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit West HS), 43rd place, 23:18 (PR)
• Sophomore Caroline Archer (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood Academy), 44th place, 23:19 (PR)
• Sophomore Lindsay Sanger (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson HS), 45th place, 23:22

 
QUOTABLE
 
Pepperdine Coach Robert Radnoti said: "I'm super-excited about the men's team's performance. This was a big deal for us. Nick ran strong again, but the standout was Kyle, who moved up with Nick with less than a mile to go and had a big PR. Two weeks ago was probably our best performance ever, and this one was probably even better.
 
"Abbey once again led the women, but we had a lot of PRs and I'm pleased with the way they continue to work hard and improve. I'm excited about where we are and we're looking forward to our upcoming meets. This was a great trip, the course was awesome, and it will be a lot of fun when we come back next year for the regional championship."
 
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine's third meet of the season is the Capital Cross Challenge in Sacramento on Saturday, September 29.