LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Junior Key Pearson was the top finisher for Pepperdine's women's cross country team, and Kyle McCabe led the men's team to a fifth-place finish at the 2020 WCC Cross Country Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada on Feb. 24.

The men's team had the best Pepperdine finish at the conference race since placing fifth in 2008.

"From the beginning, we said we could be in the top five teams," Pepperdine head coach Sylvia Mosqueda said. "For the first cross country race of the season, we ran great. If we would've ran in a few more cross country races this season, we would've ran stellar."

In the men's race, Pepperdine's trio of Karl Winter (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's HS), McCabe (Westminster, Colo./Holy Family HS) and Justin Touhey (Stony Point, N.Y./Don Bosco Preparatory HS) chased a pack of Santa Clara runners. With Winter leading the way, the Waves pack picked off runners one by one — including several big moves from McCabe and Touhey to move up in the later stages of the race — as the race progressed.

"He ran well," Mosqueda said of McCabe's race. "He went from the back and climbed his way up. I think he could see Karl Winter up there and wanted to go up and help his teammate."

McCabe took the lead for Pepperdine with around 1,000-meters to go and crossed the line with a 24:58.1. Pepperdine's 1-4 runners finished 36.8 seconds apart.

"Justin [Touhey] ran well," Mosqueda said. "He came off of being hurt and was able to pull it off today. Both he and Preston Gromer are such great racers."

On the women's side, Mosqueda said Pearson (Bainbridge Island, Wash./Vistamar School) and Riley Wright (Chandler, Ariz/Corona Del Sol HS) were a few of the Waves' top performances. As a team, the Pepperdine women's cross country team placed tenth.

"Key and Riley had good races," Mosqueda said. "I think this race will get them ready for what they need to do for track season. I think they're going to run some solid races."

Pepperdine brought a squad of seven men and eight women for the conference race, which was the only cross country race on its schedule. The Waves will return to their track season on March 6 at Fresno Pacific's Central California Invitational.

"I think they all ran solid," Mosqueda said. "The times were pretty weird — nobody ran stellar times, but the race was very tactical. It was weird running our first cross country race. For us, it was our first race, but for a lot of teams like BYU, Portland and Gonzaga, it was not. They've been competing. But for us, Santa Clara and LMU. this was our first cross country race of the season."
 

MEN'S 8K LEADERS

• Junior Kyle McCabe (Westminster, Colo./Holy Family HS) 33rd place, 24:58.1

• Junior Karl Winter (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's HS) 35th place, 25:08.2

• Senior Justin Touhey (Stony Point, N.Y./Don Bosco Preparatory HS) 38th place, 25:25.7

• Senior Preston Gromer (Casper, Wyo./Kelly Walsh HS) 41st place, 25:34.9 

• Freshman Johnathan Flint (Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound HS) 57th place, 26:46.2

WOMEN'S 6K LEADERS

• Junior Key Pearson (Bainbridge Island, Wash./Vistamar School) 55th place, 23:39.3

• Junior Riley Wright (Chandler, Ariz/Corona Del Sol HS) 72nd place, 24:48.0

• Senior Annelies Ondersma (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./University Liggett School) 74th place, 24:51.5

• Sophomore Skyler Danley (Easton, Pa./Easton Area HS) 78th place, 25:06.1

• Freshman Elle Shrader (Boerne, Texas./Boerne-Samuel V. Champion HS) 80th place, 25:21.3

NEXT UP: The Waves jump back into track season on March 6 at the Central California Invitational, held at Fresno Pacific University. The meet will start at 8 a.m.

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