Waves' Runners Have Strong Showings at UCLA

Friday, March 29

Los Angeles, Calif.

5:30 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

Bob Larsen Distance Carnival

Jackson Felkins

Photo by: Jeff Golden

3/30/2019 8:44:00 PM | Track

Results

By: by Athletic Communications

LOS ANGELES, California – Jackson Felkins broke the school record in the men's 10,000 meters while Abbey Meck turned in a pair of near-record performances, including a win in the women's 1,500 meters, to lead the Pepperdine track teams over two days of competition at UCLA's Bob Larsen Distance Carnival and Jim Bush Legends Invitational.

On Friday night, Felkins (Southlake, Texas/Carroll Senior HS), a freshman, posted a time of 30:51.48, a half-second better than the previous school record set by teammate Nick Heath in 2016. Felkins finished sixth out of 22 runners.

Meck (Santa Cruz, Calif./San Lorenzo Valley HS), a sophomore, moved to #2 on Pepperdine's all-time lists in the 1,500 and the 5,000. On Friday, she ran 17:14.08 to finish 10th in the 5,000. On Saturday, she won the 1,500 with a time of 4:37.50, beating 16 other competitors. On Pepperdine's all-time lists, Meck is also first in the mile and third in the 3,000.

In that women's 1,500 race, the Waves also saw junior Cori Persinger (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit West HS) take sixth, freshman Annelies Ondersma (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./University Liggett School) place eighth and freshman Shelby White (San Antonio, Texas/Winston Churchill HS) finish 10th.

Meck wasn't the only Wave to earn a victory. In Friday's men's 5,000 open race, sophomore Justin Touhey (Stony Point, N.Y./Don Bosco Preparatory HS) placed first out of 32 runners in 14:58.95, while Heath (Scotts Valley, Calif./Scotts Valley HS) was fourth. And in a mile that was contested on Friday where eight of the 10 runners were from Pepperdine, the Waves' Kieran Halewyn (Lake Oswego, Ore./Southridge HS), Preston Gromer (Casper, Wyo./Kelly Walsh HS) and Tim Wells (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs HS) finished 1-2-3.

"We're thrilled for Jackson," Pepperdine Coach Robert Radnoti said. "This was his very first 10,000 as a freshman. He's going to do amazing things at Pepperdine. Abbey is really coming along. She's coming close to Lauren Lodge's records, which I thought were going to be untouchable for a while. She had a gutsy run in the 1,500. A Montana State runner had a bit of a lead in the final turn and it looked like she might win, but Abbey had an incredible kick and got the win and a PR. These were two really good days for Abbey.

"It was also really great to see Justin get his first collegiate win. He was hanging around and took off with a lap to go. He had a couple of guys chasing him but he closed it out. We're looking forward to April. Everyone is rounding into shape, the coaches are doing an incredible job, and we're looking forward to the next meet and setting some more PRs and records."

Other Pepperdine women who were the top finishers for the team included sophomore Caila Tongco (Kent, Wash./Kent-Meridian HS) in the 100 and 100 hurdles, senior Catie Barilla (Alta Loma, Calif./Los Osos HS) in the 400 hurdles, junior Izabela Garcia-Arce (Bonita, Calif./Bonita Vista HS) in the 800 and White in the 5,000.

The women's 4x100 (49.20) and 4x400 (4:06.41) relay teams each posted season-best times.

Pepperdine returns to action next Saturday (April 6) at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational.