TORRANCE, Calif. – The Pepperdine men's and women's cross country teams opened the 2023 season at the South Bay Twilight hosted by PCH Cup rival Loyola Marymount on Friday evening. The Waves had seven runners make their debut.
Pepperdine's men were led by freshmen
Dominic Silhol (Mequon, Wis./Homestead HS) and
Gordy Nilsen (Boulder, Colo./Fairview HS) with a 20th and 21st-place finish, both collecting a time of 25:55.8. The men's team took third out of five teams in the event (and still collected third out of the Division I teams) held at Charles H. Wilson Park.
The women were led by freshman
Hannah Miller (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak HS) with a 20th-place finish in a time of 22:40.3, which is seven minutes away from being on the top-20 all-time list. The Waves' women placed fifth out of the five teams at the meet (and was fourth out of the Division 1 teams).
MEN'S 8K LEADERS
- Freshman Dominic Silhol (Mequon, Wis./Homestead HS), 20th, 25:55.8
- Freshman Gordy Nilsen (Boulder, Colo./Fairview HS), 21st, 25:55.8
- Graduate student Will Bullock (Marietta, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain HS/Eastern Illinois), 22nd, 25:55.9
- Senior Johnathan Flint (Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound HS), 23rd, 25:56.0
- Sophomore Patrick Thomas (Paso Robles, Calif./Mission College Prep), 24th, 25:56.2
WOMEN'S 6K LEADERS
- Freshman Hannah Miller (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak HS), 20th, 22:40.3
- Freshman Emma Martinez (Palmer, Pa./Palmerton HS), 31st, 23:54.4
- Junior CeCe Fleenor (Alexandria, Va./Bishop O'Connell HS), 35th, 24:44.5
- Freshman Madeline Del Rio (Valencia, Calif./Saugus HS), 36th, 25:00.2
- Freshman Renee Skiera (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey HS), 37th, 25:02.0
QUOTABLE
Head coach
Lauren Floris said: "Today was a great start to the year! About half of our women opened up their seasons tonight and ran incredible races. It was the first 6K for all of the freshmen women and they really stepped up to the occasion and showed that they have been great additions to the team. Our men's team executed their plan to run as a pack and it was great to see them working together for the whole race and cross the finish line together."
UP NEXT
The Waves will be on their home course to host the Waves Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 9.
