Pepperdine University
Capital Cross Challenge
Cross Country Runs in Sacramento on Saturday
9/27/2018 9:45:00 AM | Cross Country
MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's and women's cross country teams are headed up to Sacramento for the first of two visits this season, as the Waves will run at the Capital Cross Challenge on Saturday morning.
MEET DETAILS
The race will be held at the Haggin Oaks Golf Course, which is also the site for the upcoming NCAA West Regional Championship in November. On Saturday, the men's 8K will start at 9:50 a.m., followed by the women's 6K at 10:30 a.m. Sacramento State is the host.
MEN'S TEAM
Senior Nick Heath (Scotts Valley, Calif./Scotts Valley HS) has had a pair of top-10 finishes to start the 2018 season. One of the Waves' all-time best runners, he's 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.
The Capital Cross Challenge is where Heath first set Pepperdine's 8K record as a 2015 freshman, and where he then lowered it to 24:06.5 as a 2016 sophomore.
At the Cougar Classic two weeks ago, the Waves #2-5 runners were sophomore Kyle Johnson (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester HS), freshman Karl Winter (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's HS), 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 sixth, Touhey in eighth, Gromer in 13th and junior Jalen Frantal (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central HS) in 16th.
WOMEN'S TEAM
Sophomore Abbey Meck (Santa Cruz, Calif./San Lorenzo Valley HS) has been the Waves' top finisher at all eight meets she's run in her career, including a ninth-place result at the Cougar Classic two weeks ago. 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 Cougar Classic were freshman Shelby White (San Antonio, Texas/Winston Churchill HS), junior Cori Persinger (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit West HS), sophomore Caroline Archer (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood Academy) and sophomore Lindsay Sanger (Sinking Spring, Pa./Wilson HS).
QUOTABLE
Head coach Robert Radnoti says: "This is our third meet of the season so it's still kind of the early season for us, but we don't have very many meets. This is the site of the NCAA West Regional Championship so we're going up there with the specific intent of preparing for that race. We're also looking to really test ourselves. We've been here for more than a month and the students are ready to run a really great race. It's on a golf course and we should have some really great times."
UP NEXT
Pepperdine's fourth and final regular-season meet of 2018 is Santa Clara's Bronco Invitational on October 13.
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Players Mentioned
