Saturday, September 4
Brea, Calif.
8:30 a.m. PT
Pepperdine University
at
Mark Covert Classic
Annelies Ondersma
Photo by: Roger Horne
Cross Country Opens Season at Mark Covert Classic
9/2/2021 11:47:00 AM | Cross Country
MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's and women's cross country teams open up the 2021 season on Saturday at Cal State Fullerton's Mark Covert Classic. This marks the first meet as head coach for Pepperdine alum Lauren Floris.Â
MEET DETAILS
The race will be held at Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Brea, Calif. The men's 8K will start at 8:30 a.m., followed by the women's 5K at 9:15 a.m.
ROSTER NOTES
The Pepperdine men's cross country team is coming off a fifth-place finish at the 2020 West Coast Conference Championships (postponed to February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the program's best result since 2008. This was the only cross country meet held in 2020-21.
This year's 12-man men's team has nine returners including five of the nine competitors from last year's West Coast Conference Championships. There are three seniors on the squad, one junior, five sophomores and three freshmen.Â
Nine of the 15 women return for the Waves, including seven that competed at the West Coast Conference Championships. There are three seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen on the squad this season.Â
MEN'S TEAM
Seniors Karl Winter (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's HS), Jackson Felkins (Southlake,Texas/Carroll Senior HS) and Kyle McCabe (Westminster,Colo./Holy Family HS) start this year as the top runners for the men's team. Winter, Felkins and McCabe all sit on the Waves' all-time list for 8K with Winter at #3, Felkins #5 and McCabe #6.
Although the Waves only competed in one meet during the 2020 season, junior Marcus Flint (Durango, Colo./Durango HS), sophomores Johnathan Flint (Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound HS), Austin Gromer (Casper, Wyo./Mountain View HS) and Ryan Hemphill (Visalia, Calif./ Redwood HS) are returning this season and expected to be huge assets to the team. In addition, the Waves welcome three newcomers including Elias Spence (Shippensburg, Pa./ Shippensburg Area Senior HS) who helped win two consecutive league cross country titles for Shippensburg Area High School.Â
WOMEN'S TEAM
Junior Skyler Danley (Easton, Pa./ Easton Area HS) and senior Key Pearson (Bainbridge Island, Wash./ Vistamar School) return for the Waves as the top runners for this season. Danley and Pearson both competed in the only race for 2020. In 2019, Danley was the Waves' #1 runner through five out of six meets, including the 2019 WCC Championships. Danley also has a spot on the Waves' all-time list for 6K at #10. Pearson was the top finisher for the women's team in the 2020 WCC Championships and was also one of the top five runners for 2019.
Some of the other key returners back include seniors Riley Wright (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol HS) and Annelies Ondersma (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./ University Liggett School), junior Olivia Miller (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles HS) and sophomores Elle Shrader (Boerne, Texas/Boerne-Samuel V. Champion HS) and Skylar Davis (Savannah, Ga./ Savannah Arts Academy) are expected to help lead the Waves. The women's team also adds six newcomers including Megan La Camera (Burbank, Calif./Burbank HS), who had a top-50 finish at the 2019 Nike Portland XC race and Eden Mittelsdorf (Nashville, Tenn./Brentwood HS), who helped Brentwood High School cap off an undefeated season by winning a state title at the 2020 TSSAA State Cross Country Championships.
QUOTABLE
Head coach Lauren Floris is heading into her first meet as head coach. She says: "We are looking forward to kicking off our season against a competitive field in Brea. We had a great summer of training and are coming into this race with strong teams on both sides. I expect this race to set the tone for the upcoming season and am excited to see what our athletes can do."
SCHEDULE
The rest of this season's schedule includes the UC Riverside Invitational (Sept. 18), Minnesota's Roy Griak Invitational (Sept. 24), The Master's Invitational (Sept. 25), and Santa Clara's Bronco Invitational (Oct. 16). The postseason includes the WCC Championships on Oct. 29 and the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 12.
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MEET DETAILS
The race will be held at Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Brea, Calif. The men's 8K will start at 8:30 a.m., followed by the women's 5K at 9:15 a.m.
ROSTER NOTES
The Pepperdine men's cross country team is coming off a fifth-place finish at the 2020 West Coast Conference Championships (postponed to February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the program's best result since 2008. This was the only cross country meet held in 2020-21.
This year's 12-man men's team has nine returners including five of the nine competitors from last year's West Coast Conference Championships. There are three seniors on the squad, one junior, five sophomores and three freshmen.Â
Nine of the 15 women return for the Waves, including seven that competed at the West Coast Conference Championships. There are three seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen on the squad this season.Â
MEN'S TEAM
Seniors Karl Winter (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's HS), Jackson Felkins (Southlake,Texas/Carroll Senior HS) and Kyle McCabe (Westminster,Colo./Holy Family HS) start this year as the top runners for the men's team. Winter, Felkins and McCabe all sit on the Waves' all-time list for 8K with Winter at #3, Felkins #5 and McCabe #6.
Although the Waves only competed in one meet during the 2020 season, junior Marcus Flint (Durango, Colo./Durango HS), sophomores Johnathan Flint (Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound HS), Austin Gromer (Casper, Wyo./Mountain View HS) and Ryan Hemphill (Visalia, Calif./ Redwood HS) are returning this season and expected to be huge assets to the team. In addition, the Waves welcome three newcomers including Elias Spence (Shippensburg, Pa./ Shippensburg Area Senior HS) who helped win two consecutive league cross country titles for Shippensburg Area High School.Â
WOMEN'S TEAM
Junior Skyler Danley (Easton, Pa./ Easton Area HS) and senior Key Pearson (Bainbridge Island, Wash./ Vistamar School) return for the Waves as the top runners for this season. Danley and Pearson both competed in the only race for 2020. In 2019, Danley was the Waves' #1 runner through five out of six meets, including the 2019 WCC Championships. Danley also has a spot on the Waves' all-time list for 6K at #10. Pearson was the top finisher for the women's team in the 2020 WCC Championships and was also one of the top five runners for 2019.
Some of the other key returners back include seniors Riley Wright (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol HS) and Annelies Ondersma (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./ University Liggett School), junior Olivia Miller (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles HS) and sophomores Elle Shrader (Boerne, Texas/Boerne-Samuel V. Champion HS) and Skylar Davis (Savannah, Ga./ Savannah Arts Academy) are expected to help lead the Waves. The women's team also adds six newcomers including Megan La Camera (Burbank, Calif./Burbank HS), who had a top-50 finish at the 2019 Nike Portland XC race and Eden Mittelsdorf (Nashville, Tenn./Brentwood HS), who helped Brentwood High School cap off an undefeated season by winning a state title at the 2020 TSSAA State Cross Country Championships.
QUOTABLE
Head coach Lauren Floris is heading into her first meet as head coach. She says: "We are looking forward to kicking off our season against a competitive field in Brea. We had a great summer of training and are coming into this race with strong teams on both sides. I expect this race to set the tone for the upcoming season and am excited to see what our athletes can do."
SCHEDULE
The rest of this season's schedule includes the UC Riverside Invitational (Sept. 18), Minnesota's Roy Griak Invitational (Sept. 24), The Master's Invitational (Sept. 25), and Santa Clara's Bronco Invitational (Oct. 16). The postseason includes the WCC Championships on Oct. 29 and the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 12.
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Players Mentioned
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