Biography
ACADEMIC AWARDS: WCC All-Academic first team in fall 2019, 2020-21 and 2021-22 ... Earned WCC Commissioner’s Honor Roll “gold” honors in 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 ... Pepperdine Scholar-Athlete in 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22.
PEPPERDINE XC 2021 (SR): Had a strong senior campaign, competing in six of the seven races and was Pepperdine’s top runner for four of them … Had a first-place finish at the Mark Covert Classic (9/4) with a time of 24:49.7 … Had a season-best and personal-best 8K of 24:01.5 at the Bronco Invitational (10/16), which put him at the #2 spot on the Waves’ all-time list … Was the Waves’ top runner at the NCAA West Regional with a season-best and personal-best 10K of 31:18.1, which kept him at the #5 spot on the Waves’ all-time list … Had two top-10 finishes with first place at Mark Covert Classic and ninth place at the Bronco Invitational.
PEPPERDINE XC 2020-21 (JR): Was Pepperdine’s #2 runner in the only race of the season at the WCC Championships (2/24) ... Ran the 8K course in 25:08.2.
PEPPERDINE XC 2019 (SO): Competed in all six meets and was the Waves’ top runner for four of them ... Had a season-best 8K of 24:31.3 at the Bronco Invitational (10/19) ... Ran 31:23.0 at the NCAA West Regional (11/15), moving him up to the #5 spot on the Waves’ all-time 10K list ... Was the Waves’ top runner at the WCC Championships ... Best finishes were fifth at the Mark Covert Classic (8/31) and 16th at the Bronco Invitational.
PEPPERDINE XC 2018 (FR): Had an excellent debut season and finished in the Waves’ top five at all six races ... Took 15th place at the Capital Cross Challenge (9/29) and 18th at the Bronco Invitational (10/13) ... Season-best 8K of 24:17.3 at the Bronco Invitational put him at #3 on the Waves’ all-time list ... His 31:50.4 at the NCAA West Regional (11/9) put him at #6 on the all-time 10K list.
PEPPERDINE TRACK 2022 (SR): Set three school records (mile, 1,500 and 5,000 meters) … Was the first Pepperdine track athlete to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary meet for the second consecutive year and qualify for two different events (1,500 and 5,000 meters) … Finished ranked 34th in the West Region in the 1,500 meters … Broke the school record in the mile with a time of 4:02.81 at the Bob Larsen Distance meet (3/25), which hadn’t been done since the school record was set in 1970 … Broke his own school record in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:39.60 at the Bryan Clay Invitational (4/15), which was his qualifying time for the NCAA West Preliminary round … Broke his own school record in the 5,000 meters with a time of 13:46.80 at the Stanford Invitational (4/1) … Collected an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA West Preliminary quarterfinals (5/25) in the 1,500 meters with a third-place finish in his heat in a time of 3:46.24 … Finished the 1,500 meter quarterfinals (5/27) with a 10th-place finish in his heat in a time of 3:44.64 … Ran in the 5,000 meter NCAA West Preliminary semifinals (5/27) in a time of 14:43.53.
PEPPERDINE TRACK 2021 (JR): Set three school records (800, 1,500 and 5,000 meters) ... Was the first Pepperdine track athlete to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary meet in the Division I era (and the first to run at any NCAA postseason meet since 1969) ... Finished ranked 33rd in the West Region in the 1,500 meters ... Broke the school record in the 5,000 and won the meet with a 14:31.58 at Westmont (2/13) ... Broke his own school record in the 1,500 meters twice, first by winning the Bryan Clay Invitational (4/10) with a 3:45.80, then by qualifying for the NCAA West Preliminary with a 3:40.58 at Azusa Pacific (4/17) ... At one point, ranked as high as 21st in the nation in the 1,500 meters ... Broke the school record in the 800 meters with a 1:51.47 at the WCC Distance Carnival (5/8) ... Placed ninth in his heat of the 1,500 meters at the NCAA West Preliminary (5/26) with a 3:48.71.
PEPPERDINE TRACK 2020 (SO): Set two school records before the season came to an end after two meets due to the COVID-19 pandemic ... Broke the 3,000-meter record with a time of 8:25.18 at Santa Barbara (2/22), winning the event ... Broke the 1,500-meter record with a time of 3:53.53 at Long Beach (3/7), also winning the event ... He ended up with the fastest time in the nation in the 1,500 meters with the season ending early.
PEPPERDINE TRACK 2019 (FR): Only took part in two meets ... Had the team’s best mile time of the season, 4:19.76 at UC Santa Barbara (2/16) ... Also ran the 3,000 at UCSB, and did not finish in the mile at UCLA (3/29).
HIGH SCHOOL: Graduated from Saint Mary’s High School, located in Stockton, Calif., in 2018 ... Ran four years of varsity cross country and three in track ... Set 10 school records, five in each sport ... Finished 10th at the 2017 CIF Division 4 state cross country meet, and also qualified in 2016 ... Took third at the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D4 race ... In track, was a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section champion in the 1,600 meters as a senior ... Won Tri-City Athlete League titles in the 1,600 three straight years and in the 800 and 3,200 as a senior ... A member of the National Honor Society and an AP Scholar with Honors.
PERSONAL: Majoring in journalism ... Born in Stockton, Calif. ... Son of Roland and Kristin Winter ... Has three siblings: Karina, Alex and Daniel ... His father, an aunt (Beate Martinez) and a cousin (Monika Martinez) all attended Pepperdine ... His mother ran cross country and track at Augustana College ... Chose Pepperdine because "I was drawn by the quality of people that I met during my time visiting the school, especially the coaches and runners in the cross country and track program. I was also drawn by the communications/journalism program and its Christian roots, and of course the campus and location were an added bonus."
FAVORITES: Enjoys reading, writing, watching and playing sports and traveling ... Favorites include Aaron Judge (pro athlete), Chicago White Sox (pro sports team), the Harry Potter series (book), Shawshank Redemption (movie), ESPN First Take (TV show), Kendrick Lamar (musical artist), his mother’s spaghetti (food) and basketball (sport other than running) ... Favorite thing about running is “it allows me to feel in control of my breathing, body and mind. Running is a stress-relieving activity that I can always fall back on. Running can be a social or isolated activity, and the team aspect of training and competing is extremely important to maximizing performance in both cross country and track.”
