SPOKANE, Wash. – Pepperdine Cross Country travels outside of southern California for the first time this season for the 2025 West Coast Conference Cross Country Championships, hosted by Gonzaga Saturday, Nov. 1.
There will be two events—both hosted at The Course Spokane Valley in Spokane, Wash. The women will lead off the day at 10 a.m. with a 6K. The men conclude the event at 11 a.m. with their 8K.
"The team is ready to roll this weekend. We've had a solid week of preparation and the kids are feeling good," said head coach Lauren Floris. "We're excited to get up to Spokane and see the course and give it our all on Saturday."
Eighteen Waves runners will travel to the Pacific Northwest. Riley Burgess, Lizzy Crawford, Kennedy Duralde, Ashley Eagan, Jessica Guardino, Hannah Miller, Grace Simpson, and Renee Skiera will represent the women. The men will have Micah Brighton, Elijah Gentry, Henry Hicks, Colin Knowles, Kaleb McElfish, Gordy and Rowan Nilsen, Dominic Silhol, Beckett Sullivan, and Patrick Thomas in action.
Brighton and Sullivan are the lone first-years on the roster to make the trip.
The men will face opponents from Portland, Washington State, Gonzaga, Santa Clara, Saint Mary's, San Francisco, Pacific, Seattle, and San Diego. The Cougars are currently ranked as the 11th best cross country squad in the USTFCCCA coaches' poll.
On the women's side the Cougars are also ranked (22). The other ranked conference foe is Gonzaga at 26. The team will also face runners from Portland, San Francisco, Oregon State, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, Seattle, San Diego, LMU, and Pacific.
The festivities will be streamed on ESPN+ here, with live results available online here.
For those attending in person, parking is not available at the course. Instead, patrons are suggested to take the free shuttle from the Spokane Valley Commons.
The last outing for the blue and orange was the Highlander Invitational. Elijah Gentry and Lizzy Crawford were the top finishers respectively. Gentry earned 15th in the men's 8K (24:04.1) while Crawford took 25th in the women's 6K (21:09.9).
The next opportunity for Pepperdine runners this season will be in the NCAA West Regional Championships, slated for Friday, Nov. 14 in Sacramento, Calif.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE CROSS COUNTRY/TRACK
The Pepperdine cross country/track program has a rich history dating back to the 1950s with six total individual national championships to come through the program. As one of the original three programs sponsored by then George Pepperdine College in 1937, the Waves immediately began to make a mark on the track world stage with eight total Olympians and multiple regional champions throughout the program's history.
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