MALIBU, Calif. — Five in-state races and the fourth consecutive year of hosting the Waves Invitational highlight the 2025 Pepperdine cross country schedule, which was released Tuesday.
Five of Pepperdine's six scheduled races will take place in California, with the lone exception being the West Coast Conference Championships, which will be held in Spokane, Wash. for the first time since 2015. Almost every race is a return trip for the Waves, giving the team plenty of opportunities to improve personal-best times on familiar courses.
Kicking off the 2025 season, Pepperdine hosts the Waves Invitational at scenic Alumni Park on Aug. 29 at 5 p.m. The race will be held during the second week of the fall 2025 semester; attendance is free to the public.
The first road race of the season is the Biola Invitational, held at Ted Craig Regional Park in Fullerton, Calif. on Sept. 12. This will be Pepperdine's first appearance at the Biola Invitational since 1999.
From there, Pepperdine takes back-to-back trips to Riverside: first for the UC Riverside Invitational on Sept. 27, and then for the Highlander Invitational on Oct. 18. UC Riverside's Ag/Ops Course is a staple of the Pepperdine cross country schedule. Excluding the 2020 season, which was impacted due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Waves have raced that course in eight of the last 10 seasons.
This year, Seattle University returns to the West Coast Conference and the Pacific Tigers will add a men's cross country program, making the 2025 WCC Championships the largest race in league history. Ten men's teams and 12 women's teams will meet in Spokane, Wash. for the WCC Championships, which will take place on Nov. 1.
Pepperdine will compete in its last guaranteed race, the NCAA West Regional Championships, on Friday, Nov. 14. The race will take place at the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento, Calif., which has historically been a fast course for the men's team. Eight of the program's top-20 10-kilometer times took place on that course.
Should the Waves qualify for their first-ever NCAA XC Cross Country Championships, they will do so at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course. This year, the national championships will be held in Columbia, Mo. on Nov. 22.
Head coach Lauren Floris is entering her fifth season at the helm of her alma mater. Last season, the men's team placed seventh and the women's team placed 10th at the West Coast Conference Championships, which featured two new member schools.
2025 Cross Country Schedule
Aug. 29 Waves Invite (Malibu, Calif.)
Sept. 12 Biola Invitational (Fullerton, Calif.)
Sept. 27 UC Riverside Invitational (Riverside, Calif.)
Oct. 18 Highlander Invitational (Riverside, Calif.)
Nov. 1 WCC Championships (Spokane, Wash.)
Nov. 14 NCAA West Regional Championships (Sacramento, Calif.)
