SAN LUIS OBISPO, California – Nick Heath and Abbey Meck turned in some strong performances to lead the Pepperdine men's and women's track teams at Saturday's Cal Poly Invitational.
 
Heath (Scotts Valley, Calif./Scotts Valley HS), a senior, took fourth place out of 15 runners in the men's 3,000 meters with a time of 8:43.85.
 
Meck (Santa Cruz, Calif./San Lorenzo Valley HS), a sophomore, posted a personal-best time of 4:42.46 in the women's 1,500 meters, moving her from #5 to #3 on the Waves' all-time list. She also ran a PR of 2:20.00 in the 800 meters, just a half-second off a spot in the top five. She won her heats in both races.
 
Senior Catie Barilla (Alta Loma, Calif./Los Osos HS) took fourth in the women's 400-meter hurdles, while sophomore Sheridan Davis (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge HS) was eighth in the 100 hurdles. On the men's side, sophomore Brandon Davis (Troy, Mich./Troy HS) was 10th in the men's 800 meters.
 
Other top-performing women in each race included Davis in the 100, freshman Alexa Ortega (Chatsworth, Calif./St. Genevieve HS) in the 200, sophomore Eden Dorsey (San Antonio, Texas/Young Women's Leadership Academy) in the 400 and freshman Shelby White (San Antonio, Texas/Winston Churchill HS) in the 3,000. Junior Katie O'Malley (San Ramon, Calif./Dougherty Valley HS) competed in the long jump for the second time this season. For the men, sophomore Kieran Halewyn (Lake Oswego, Ore./Southridge HS) led the Waves in the 1,500.
 
"It was pretty chilly today, drizzling off and on, typical of what's been happening in California this season," Pepperdine Coach Robert Radnoti said. "Abbey ran some very competitive races and we're pleased with her development. Sheridan Davis stepped up and had some nice races. We were very pleased with the men's 1,500 as Kieran went under four minutes, and Jalen Frantal was almost there. The men's team is developing nicely. Nick is coming back from his injury and he ran a good 3,000 meters, and he'll keep getting better. With about a month to go in the season we expect that we'll continue to have more good performances, the coaches are doing a wonderful job with the athletes and it's going to be a fun finish. Next week at UCLA is a very high-level meet, we're going to need everyone to step up and set some more PRs."
 
Pepperdine competes at UCLA's Bob Larsen Distance Carnival and Legends Invitational next Friday and Saturday (March 29-30).