SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Pepperdine track made the short voyage up the 101 to compete in the Gaucho Relays, hosted by UC Santa Barbara. The program saw new all-time bests in the men's and women's 4x400-meter relay, men's and women's 4x800-meter relay, and women's 1600-meter sprint medley relay (SMR).
"Today was a banner day. We ran five relays and ran five school records. And most of them were beaten handily," said head coach Lauren Floris. "I'm so proud of how everyone ran today and how far our program has come in recent years!"
Annie Trapp, Mia Skuraton, Lia Cooper, and Lexi Thomas combined in the 4x400-meter relay to take down a Waves record that had stood nine years. They edged out the previous time of 3:51.82 by a little under a second (3:50.91). Trailing just the host Gauchos, Pepperdine finished second in the event.
Skuraton and Thomas also signed their name to the new SMR—clocked at an even 4:15. They were joined by Adison Moore and Leah Heckmann. The previous record (set at the Gaucho Relays last March) had stood .36 slower. The blue and orange took fourth in the event's standings.
The third Pepperdine top mark the women's team set was in the 4x800-meter relay. Lizzy Crawford and Ashley Eagan made up half the squad, ensuring that their streak of Waves record in each event of the 2026 season continued. Brielle McClarnon and Kennedy Duralde were flanked by the two aforementioned runners en route to the memorable 9:12.18 finish. They earned silver in the event.
The men's team also broke their previous 4x800-meter relay record, and in doing so earned a first-place finish. At 7:33.91 Alex Nield, Ryan Fabian, Beckett Sullivan, and Parker Buchheit crossed the finish over six seconds faster than next.
Sullivan and Buchheit were joined by freshmen sprinters Kian Alton and Giovanni Coronado in the 4x400-meter relay (3:16.13)—another record. The last event of the day saw the Waves finish runner-up, besting the previous Pepperdine mark of 3:20.72.
In the individual events Pepperdine top performers were as follows:
(W) 100-meter dash: Adison Moore (12.17)
(M) 100-meter dash: Kian Alton (11.13)
(W) 100-meter hurdles: Annie Trapp (15.85)
The full results can be found here.
The Ben Brown and Astro AI Invitationals in Fullerton, Calif. are next up for the Waves. The meets are set for March 12 and 13.
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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