SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Both Pepperdine cross country teams placed 18th at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, held in South Bend, Ind. on Friday. At the biggest regular-season meet of the year, four Pepperdine individuals highlighted the trip by breaking into the program's top 20 leaderboards.

For the eighth-consecutive race, sophomore Lizzy Crawford led the women's team with her 5-kilometer time of 18:00.4 — good for 32nd place. Crawford ranks fifth on Pepperdine's all-time rankings with that time. Senior Eden Mittelsdorf was Pepperdine's second runner, covering the course in 18:36.0, which ranks 20th all-time in program history. Further down the lineup, Ashley Eagan had her best race of the season with her time of 19:05.0. The junior moved up 29 spots in the last two kilometers to score for Pepperdine for the first time all season.

On the men's side, sophomore Gordy Nilsen improved on his personal-best 8-kilometer time by covering the course in 24:40.1. He placed 20th overall and his time is the 12th fastest in program history. Freshman Elijah Gentry was the other bright spot for the Waves; his 8K time of 25:08.9 was 51st overall — seventh-fastest amongst freshmen — and 19th fastest in program history.

With both teams competing in the "gold" race, the women's squad placed 18th out of 23 teams, while the men's team finished 18th out of 18 teams. Indiana State's women won with a score of 85 points, while the nation's top Division III men's team Wisconsin-La Crosse won with 41 points.

A separate Pepperdine squad races on Saturday at The Master's XC Invitational. The first race starts at 8 a.m.