MALIBU, Calif. – Hosting the West Coast Conference meet for the first time in a decade, both Pepperdine cross country and track teams improved on their team finishes at the conference meet from a year ago on Saturday.
The men's team used a solid pack time of 44.6 seconds to place sixth and the women's team placed seventh — the latter of which was the team's best finish since placing seventh in 2013. Coincidentally, 2013 was the last time the Waves hosted WCCs at Alumni Park.
For the women, freshman Lizzy Crawford (Thornton, Colo./Horizon HS) led the Waves thanks to an aggressive start and hanging on to the lead pack for the first third of the race. She finished the 6-kilometer course with a time of 22:32.3 — good for 22nd place. She was not only the fifth-fastest freshman in the field, but also Pepperdine's best finisher at the conference race since current Pepperdine head coach Lauren Floris (neé Lodge) placed 19th in 2011.
Behind her, senior Elle Shrader and Hannah Bruner ran together for the majority of the race to place 41st and 44th, respectively, for the Waves. Megan La Camera (Burbank, Calif./Burbank HS) and Hannah Miller (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak HS) rounded out Pepperdine's scoring runners, clocking 6K times of 25:03.5 (62nd) and 25:20.2 (67th), respectively.
Later that morning in the men's race, senior Johnathan Flint (Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound HS) and Dominic Silhol (Mequon, Wis./Homestead HS) packed up and methodically made their way up from the middle of the pack. Flint covered the 8-kilometer course in 25:49.6 seconds — good for 25th overall — while Sihol and Patrick Thomas (Paso Robles, Calif./Mission College Prep) finished in 28th and 29th, respectively. Wrapping out Pepperdine's scoring runners were Will Bullock (Marietta, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain HS) and Joshua Bergers (Cohasset, Mass./IMG Academy), who worked together throughout the race to finish in 36th and 38th place, respectively.
All told the Waves' pack time of 44.6 seconds was the second-best in the field.
The Portland women upset WCC individual champion Rosina Machu and the #28 Gonzaga Bulldogs 40-46 to win the conference title. On the men's side, Gonzaga won the team title and Portland's Matt Strangio outkicked Santa Clara's Nicholas Russell and Gonzaga's Wil Smith in the last 800 meters for the men's individual title.
UP NEXT: The Waves head north to Sacramento for the NCAA West Regional race, hosted by Sacramento State on Friday, Nov. 10.
