SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Competing with both the men's and women's squads for the first time this season, the Pepperdine track team set three more school records at the Gaucho Relays, hosted by UC Santa Barbara on Saturday afternoon.
The women's 4x800-meter and sprint medley relay teams broke longstanding school records, while freshman Brittany Rivas broke the 400-meter hurdles school record in her collegiate debut. All told, the Waves have set 14 school records in head coach Lauren Floris' fourth year at the helm of her alma mater.
In a sign of things to come, the women's 4x800-meter relay team of Caroline Graham, Hannah Bruner, Lizzy Crawford and Ashley Eagan smashed an 11-year-old school record to kick off the meet. Their time of 9:15.57 was a 42-second improvement over the previous mark of 9:48.41 set in 2014. Pepperdine led several times throughout the race before UCSB's team pulled away to win the event in 9:13.45.
Shortly after the relay team broke the school record, Rivas made a splash in her collegiate debut in the 400-meter hurdles. Competing in the fast heat, Rivas placed fourth overall with her time of 1:03.74, edging Catie Barilla's previous mark of 1:03.81 set in 2017.
Ava Maly, Maddy Ortman, Jenna Parsio and Riley Burgess wrapped up the record-breaking performances with their fourth-place finish in the 1600-meter sprint medley relay with their time of 4:15.36. Their mark was an eight-second improvement over the previous record of 4:23.97, which has stood since 2012. Pepperdine nearly got two teams to beat the school record in that event, as the team of Tatianna Potter, Kelly Pruznik, Lia Cooper and Avery Smith placed fifth with their time of 4:25.55.
Bringing a smaller squad to the meet, the men's team of Elias Spence, Colin Proctor, Henry Hicks and Daniel Whitaker placed fourth in the 4x800-meter relay. Kaleb McElfish also placed fourth in the 1,500-meter run.
The Waves continue outdoor track season next week at Cal State Fullerton's Ben Brown Invite and Astro AI Distance Classic, held from March 7-8. All pertinent information can be found on the track team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
