Photo Courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics
The Pepperdine men’s and women’s cross country teams spent the weekend in Sacramento to compete in the Capital Cross Challenge. Freshman Nick Heath led the Pepperdine men’s team, while senior Katie Engel led the women’s team. This is the third time that Heath and Engel have led the Pepperdine pack this season.
In the men’s 8K at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex, Heath finished in fourth place out of 68 runners with a time of 24:58.0. With this time, Heath became the first Wave to run under 25 minutes in an 8K in the past two decades.
“I am thankful to have set a great example for my teammates and help motivate them to succeed,” said Heath
Sophomore Kevin Maeda finished in 19th place, junior Ben Fox finished in 21st place, sophomore Nick Blanchard finished in 28th and sophomore Kyle Cajero, a sports writer for The Graphic, finished in 34th.
Overall, the men’s team finished fourth out of the seven teams, defeating WCC rival University of San Diego.
“This meet had some challenging competition, but that is just what we needed to push ourselves to the next level and get better,” said Heath.
In the women’s 5K, Engel finished 19th out of 89 runners with a time of 17:45.0.
Following Engel was junior Elle Lemco who finished in 28th place, junior Lindsay Sheaffer in 37th, senior Mariah Gondeiro in 55th and senior Rachel Rant, a copy editor for The Graphic, finished in 65th.
The women’s team finished seventh out of ten teams and defeated the WCC’s University of the Pacific and Saint Mary’s College of California.
Both teams will be back in action on Oct. 17 when they run at UC Riverside’s Highlander Invitational.
____
Follow The Graphic on Twitter: @PeppGraphic
