BREA, California – Led by sophomore Karl Winter's fifth-place overall finish, and second among collegiate runners, the Pepperdine men's cross country team had a strong start to the 2019 season, with a sixth-place team result at Cal State Fullerton's Mark Covert Classic on Saturday morning.
 
The men's team took sixth out of 19 teams in the event (and was fifth out of Division I teams) held at Carbon Canyon Regional Park. The Waves had three runners in the top 12, with Kyle McCabe in 10th (and with a time that moves him into 13th on the Waves' all-time list) and Jalen Frantal in 12th. Among Division I runners only, McCabe was fifth and Frantal was sixth.
 
Freshman Skyler Danley led the Waves for the women with her 27th-place result in her college debut. The women took 10th place out of 21 teams (eighth among Division I teams).
 
Both teams were missing some of their top runners due to injury. At full strength, the men's squad might have won the race.
 
MEN'S 8K LEADERS

• Sophomore Karl Winter (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's HS), 5th place, 25:11.0
• Sophomore Kyle McCabe (Westminster, Colo./Holy Family HS), 10th place, 25:19.0
• Senior Jalen Frantal (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central HS), 12th place, 25:20.2
• Freshman Markus Flint, 77th place, 26:58.8
• Freshman Cole Stark (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills HS), 92nd place, 27:11.5

WOMEN'S 5K LEADERS 

• Freshman Skyler Danley (Easton, Pa./Easton Area HS), 27th place,18:57.6
• Senior Cori Persinger (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit West HS), 31st place, 19:04.1 (PR)
• Freshman Olivia Miller (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles HS), 75th place, 20:08.1
• Sophomore Key Pearson (Bainbridge Island, Wash./Vistamar School), 77th place, 20:10.0 (PR)
• Sophomore Annelies Ondersma (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./University Liggett School), 89th place, 20:21.3 (PR)

QUOTABLE
 
Karl Winter said: "It's a tough course but we're excited with the start for the team. Having Jalen, Kyle and I all in the top 10 scoring was fantastic and then having two freshmen as our four and five. We were missing a few guys today so we're really excited to use this as a starting point and to just improve from here on out."
 
Skyler Danley said: "I was really nervous in the beginning but knowing that my team is behind me and with me together it felt really good."
 
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine's second meet of the season is the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday, September 14.