SPOKANE, Wash. — Elle Shrader wanted redemption.

Ninety minutes after missing Pepperdine's indoor mile record by six-tenths of a second, the senior toed the line of the 3,000 meters at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Track Championships for her last indoor race in a Waves uniform. Fatigue from the two miles Shrader ran earlier in the meet couldn't bother her. Neither could the pain of getting so close to a school record despite running a personal best.

Until the starting gun went off, every moment was a mental battle.

"I was doing everything I could mentally to prepare," Shrader said. "It was definitely a nail-biter losing that school record by .6 seconds, so I used that to fuel my next race. I told myself I had nothing left to lose."

Once the gun fired, Shrader stuck with a pack of two Saint Mary's runners, Eleanor Jepsen and Emily Field, and traded laps with the Gaels as they embarked on the 15-lap race. Running in the middle of the chase pack, Shrader held steady in 12th place and went through the 1,600-meter mark in 5:26.81, which was on pace to break the school record of 10:39.88. With help from the Gaels' duo — coincidentally, Shrader's future teammates as she pursues her MBA at Saint Mary's next year — Shrader moved into 10th place with 400 meters to go.

"Those Saint Mary's girls were a blessing," Shrader said. "It felt like we were using each other and working together the whole time. I kept telling myself I could stay with them, so I was staying on their hip as we took turns leading the pack. It was kind of fun."

Shrader finished with a time of 10:18.32 — more than 30 seconds faster than the school record. Once she crossed the line with an emphatic fist pump, Shrader completed her quest for redemption with two school records (the DMR and the 3K) plus a 5:10.93 personal best in the mile for the second-fastest time in program history.

For the senior, this year's MPSF meet was a "night and day difference" from last year's conference meet, when a lap-counting error from the officials wiped away Shrader's time in an already painful 5,000-meter race.

"To be in a lot of physical pain and not even getting to finish the race was one of the most frustrating moments of my running career, so I was a little nervous to come back here," Shrader said. "I wanted redemption so badly."

Thankfully for Shrader and the Waves, their latest memories of running at The Podium will be positive.

Shrader wasn't the only Pepperdine DMR runner to clock top-5 times on Monday. Abby Winter finished the mile in a time of 5:27.03 — another personal best — to move her up to fifth on Pepperdine's all-time list. Additionally, Caroline Graham led Pepperdine in the 800-meter dash with her team-best time of 2:20.01 — good for 21st overall and the second-fastest time in school history. Graham's time was also faster than her 2:20.93 800-meter split in yesterday's record-breaking DMR.

Elsewhere in the 800 meters, Kayla Renner (2:26.57, 6th all-time) and Caroline Fleenor (2:28.72, 9th all-time) and Ashley Egan (2:28.15) rounded out the other Pepperdine times. 

All told, the Waves ran 10 new top-10 marks on Monday, bringing the season total to 28, including three new school records. Like last year's MPSF Championships, the Waves broke two school records at this year's indoor season finale.  

"It's so amazing to see everyone come so far," Shrader said of the team's performances at this year's MPSF Championships. "People think track is an individual sport and you're racing for yourself, but it is a team sport because you're encouraging your teammates, you want them to succeed and you want them to break the school records. You feel genuine happiness when your teammate does well — and I really think it's as much of a team sport as any other sport."

The women's 4x400-meter relay team of Isabella Reyes, Avery Smith, Renner and Maddy Ortman capped off the meet by running the fourth-fastest indoor time in school history with a time of 4:09.75. Reyes had the fastest leg of the group with a 59.88-second split.

The Long Beach State women won the meet with 132 points, followed by Hawai'i (109.83 points) and UC Davis (108.83 points). Pepperdine finished 11th out of 11 teams.

Pepperdine's men's team will compete at the Beach Opener this Saturday, March 2, while the women's team will be back in action later this month at the Occidental Distance Carnival (March 9) and a pair of meets at UCLA from March 22-23. 

MOVING ON UP
A running list of all the top-10 marks set this season

• 60-meter dash:

  • Kaley Peterson, 7.75, 2nd

  • Mia Skuraton, 7.95, 5th

  • Isabella Reyes, 7.98, 7th

  • Ava Maly, 8.05, 8th

  • Lexie Dellevigne, 8.09, 9th

• 200-meter dash:

  • Isabella Reyes, 26.10, 3rd

  • Ava Maly, 26.54, 5th

  • Mia Skuraton, 26.60, 6th

  • Lexie Dellevigne, 26.98, 8th

  • Alexa Ortega, 27.11, 10th

• 600-meter dash:

  • Avery Smith, 1:41.84, 3rd

  • Kayla Renner, 1:45.26, 6th

  • Caroline Fleenor, 1:47.77, 10th

• 800-meter dash:

  • Caroline Graham, 2:22.93, 2nd

  • Ashley Egan, 2:25.93, 5th

  • Abby Winter, 2:26.89, 6th

  • Kayla Renner, 2:30.49, 8th

• 1,000-meter dash:

  • Hannah Miller, 3:19.17, school record

• Mile:

  • Elle Shrader, 5:10.93, 2nd

  • Abby Winter, 5:27.03, 5th

  • Megan LaCamera, 5:30.15, 7th

• 3,000 meters:

  • Elle Shrader, 10:18.32, school record

  • Megan LaCamera, 10:40.83, 3rd

  • Ashley Eden Mittlesdorf, 10:45.88, 5th

• 60-meter hurdles:

  • Maddy Ortman, 9.39, 2nd

  • Katherine Lytle, 10.20, T-6th

• 4x400-meter relay:

  • Reyes/Smith/Renner/Ortman, 4:09.75, 4th

• Distance medley relay:

  • Winter/Smith/Graham/Shrader, 12:24.86, school record