Malibu, Calif. — A member of the Pepperdine track team will reach the Division I NCAA West Preliminary for the first time thanks to distance runner
Karl Winter, who made the cut in the 1,500-meter run, according to the NCAA's official announcement Thursday.
Winter (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's HS) comes into College Station, Texas seeded No. 15 in a field of 48 athletes in the 1,500 meters. He ran his qualifying time of 3:40.58 at Azusa Pacific's Bryan Clay Invitational on April 17.
This year, the NCAA West Preliminary will take place from Wednesday, May 26 through Saturday, May 29. Winter's first of two possible races in the 1,500 meters is scheduled for around 6:30 p.m. CT on May 26; should he advance to the second and final race of the West Preliminary, he will run again on Friday, May 28 at 5:45 p.m.
In order to advance to Friday's race, Winter needs to either finish in the top five of his 12-man heat, or be one of the next four fastest times from the four heats in the first round. From there, he will need to be in the top five of his 12-man heat in Friday's quarterfinal round, or run one of the next two fastest times to make the 2021 NCAA Track and Field National Championships.
The semifinals and the finals in the 1,500 will be held at the historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. from June 9-12.
All of the action will be livestreamed on the SEC Network + via ESPN.
PEPPERDINE IN THE NCAAS
Winter's appearance at the NCAA West Regionals snaps a postseason absence dating back to 1969, when Pepperdine Hall of Fame inductee Ron Pettigrew placed fifth in the steeplechase at the NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships.
Although the NCAA's regional format wasn't instituted until 2003, no Wave has made the cut for the postseason in any form since Pettigrew's run. Shortly thereafter, the Pepperdine track team was disbanded in the 1970s when the university moved its campus from Central Los Angeles to Malibu. In 2008, the men's track team was reinstituted as a Division I program for the first time.
THE SEASON SO FAR
Winter is in the midst of the most successful individual season in Pepperdine track and field's modern era. All told, the junior holds four school records ranging from the 800-meter dash, all the way to the 5K — three of which he has set this year.
In a harbinger of things to come, Winter broke the men's 5K record by running a 14:31.58 at Westmont's Sunshine Collegiate. Nearly one month — and a brief foray into the 2020 cross country season — later, Winter ran the 1,500 meters for the first time, winning the Central California Invitational in a 3:58.13.
Then Winter turned a good season into an unforgettable one.
Under the lights at Azusa Pacific's Franson Classic, Winter and teammate Preston Gromer (Casper, Wyo./Kelly Walsh HS) led the field for the first half of the race, before Winter used a strong second-half kick and pulled away with the win in a 3:45.80. This time shattered the previous school record he set on March 7, 2020, in what turned out to be the last track meet of the year before the coronavirus pandemic canceled spring sports.
One week later at the same track, Winter ran what was the 18th-fastest time in the nation in the 1,500 meters on day two of the Bryan Clay Invitational. Racing in the mix of a strong heat that included the reigning NCAA Division II indoor mile champion, Winter stormed back into the fold in the second half of the race en route to placing third with a 3:40.58.
Since then, Winter set Pepperdine's 800-meter record with a 1:51.47 at the West Coast Distance Carnival on May 8. One week later, Winter ran the 1,500 unattached at the Sound Running Track Meet, held at Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine, Calif. He finished fifth in his heat with a 3:42.07.
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