MALIBU, Calif. — After nearly a monthlong hiatus since its last meet, the Pepperdine women's indoor track team travels to Reno, Nev. for the Wolf Pack Classic, while the men's outdoor track team begins the season at Westmont's Sunshine Open this weekend.
The Wolf Pack Classic starts Friday at 1 p.m. with the 60-meter hurdle prelims and will run through Saturday's 4x400-meter relay at 3:25 p.m. PT. That meet will be livestreamed via the Mountain West Network. The Sunshine Open, which will not be livestreamed, begins Saturday at 11:35 a.m. with the 60-meter dash and will conclude with the men's 3,000-meter run at 3:45 p.m.
Full schedules and live result links for both meets can be found on the Pepperdine track team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
THE RUNDOWN: WOLF PACK CLASSIC
With two school records already broken this season, the Pepperdine women's track team has one more opportunity to lower its marks before the MPSF Indoor Track and Field Championships, held in Spokane, Wash. in two weeks.
At the UW Preview one month ago, junior Caroline Graham broke a six-year-old school record in the indoor 800-meter dash with her time of 2:17.25, which puts her at 14th in the conference so far. Fellow distance runner Lizzy Crawford was responsible for the other school record: a 10:00.95 3,000-meter run time that she soloed in her indoor track debut. While Graham is entered in the 800-meters with six of her teammates, Crawford will opt for the indoor 5,000-meter run with Eden Mittelsdorf.
Running at elevation will be a challenge, yet a nice track conversion is in store for the distance runners this week. The event of choice is the mile, which features 11 Waves led by Hannah Bruner. This will be the first time the Waves have run the mile this season.
Elsewhere on the entry list, Pepperdine's 4x400-meter relay group of Isabella Reyes, Lexi Thomas, Maddy Ortman and Brittany Rivas will run it back after running the second-fastest relay in indoor program history. Their time of 4:04.48 was less than one second off the school record, which has stood since 2016.
Speaking of sprinters, Kaley Peterson will make her indoor season debut by doubling in the 60- and 200-meter dashes. The senior has the second-fastest 60-meter dash time in school history and is the school record holder in the indoor 200-meters with her time of 25.11. In other sprinting events, Jenna Parsio leads a group of Waves looking to go sub-60 seconds in the 400-meter dash — a feat that has only been achieved by three Waves in program history.
Additionally, Pepperdine will run a distance medley relay team for the first time since the Waves set the school record at the 2024 MPSF Championships. Graham is the lone returner from that record-setting relay; this time, Kennedy Duralde, Riley Burgess and Hannah Bruner will join her.
THE RUNDOWN: SUNSHINE OPEN
A longtime staple in the Pepperdine track schedule, a group of 15 men's track runners will compete at the Sunshine Open, which will be held at Westmont in Santa Barbara, Calif. on Saturday.
Freshmen Jordan McCray and Joseph Yates are the lone sprinters for the Waves, while a mid-distance squad of Alexander Nield, Daniel Whitaker and Ryan Fabian will compete in the 600-meter dash.
The event of choice for the distance runners is the 3,000-meter run. Gordy Nilsen and Patrick Thomas — Pepperdine's top two runners from cross country season — will lead a group of five varsity runners from the Waves' cross country team last fall. Elsewhere in the distance events, Kaleb McElfish and Dominic Silhol will toe the line in the true mile, while Henry Hicks leads a group of three Waves in the 1,000-meter dash.
MOVING ON UP
A running list of all the top-10 marks set this season
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400-meter dash:
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800-meter dash:
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3,000 meters:
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4x400-meter relay:
