Pepperdine Cross Country completed the Waves Invitational on Aug. 30, at Alumni Park.
In the only home meet of the year, both men’s and women’s teams competed. The men’s team completed a 6K run, while the women’s team completed a 4K.
“I think the kids really gained a lot of confidence out there today,” Head Coach Lauren Floris said. “Seeing what they could do on tired legs after a hard week of training has really good signs for the future.”
On the men’s side, Pepperdine squared off against Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO), California State University Long Beach (CSULB) and California State University Northridge (CSUN).
On the women’s side, Pepperdine faced off against Cal Poly SLO, CSULB, University of Southern California (USC), Loyola Marymount (LMU), CSUN and California State University Bakersfield (CSUB).
The men’s team secured a third place finish in the meet, falling behind Cal Poly SLO and Long Beach. The highest ranking Pepperdine secured came from sophomore runner Gordy Nilsen at 19th.
The last member for the men’s side crossed the finished line at 35th, good for score of 81, with a team total time of 1:34:40, runner time average of 18:56 and average mile time of 5:05, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
For Nilsen, being back at home for the first meet of the year gave him the energy to record the top finish for the Waves.
“It’s awesome being back with the team, and first race at Pepperdine,” Nilsen said. “The atmosphere here, it’s amazing.”
Not to mention, Nilsen is finally able to race alongside his twin brother, sophomore runner Rowan Nilsen, for the first time since high school. Rowan previously attended LMU, however, with the university discontinuing the XC program, his only option was to run with his brother — and Gordy loves it.
“It feels just like high school,” Nilsen said. “[You] pretty much have the same person, same fitness, and really get a push off one each one another.”
The women’s team secured a fourth place finish, falling behind Cal Poly SLO, Long Beach and USC. Sophomore runner Lizzy Crawford secured the highest finish for the Waves at 8th, with a 13:27.4 time.
Three different members of the women’s team recorded Top 20 finishes, with the team having similar success to the men’s, not ranking higher than 35th. This was good for 94 points, a team total time of 1:10:35, a runner average time of 14:07 and an average mile time 5:41, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Crawford and senior runner Eden Mittelsdorf crossed the line in under 14 minutes, while four separate Waves recorded times under 15 minutes.
For Crawford, she has been Pepperdine’s top runner in all races her freshman campaign, but her goal for this meet was to beat her previous season time for the Waves Invitational, which was 14:06.7. She beat her time by 00:33.3.
“I definitely wanted to improve on my time from last year,” Crawford said. “I left it all on the course, didn’t put any pressure on myself, and I just ran for God.”
The home turf was a big factor for the Waves, and being able to practice and sleep on home soil is something the team uses to their advantage, Floris said.
“We have good home field advantage here, people come and you just hear the chatter of the other teams as they’re warming up,” Floris said. “[They’re] scared of the course, scared of the hills, scared of the grass, so it just feels really good that we work out here every week and that we know the course better than anyone else.”
On the other hand, Floris believes the high level of competition for the home meet will prepare both squads for the rest of their away meets this season. Specifically on the women’s side as they faced more teams, with bigger names.
The big name schools is a way for the team to gather confidence as the season progresses.
“USC, Long Beach, Cal Poly [SLO], being in the mix with those girls is a huge confidence boost for them going forward,” Floris said. “We had one girl, Hannah Miller, pass two USC girls right at the end, just huge to go and finish strong like that.”
With this meet being the only home meet of the year, mental fortitude is an area of importance for Floris and both cross country teams. So much so, that Floris makes the effort to train and practice building it over the season.
Specifically with how often the team travels, Floris likes to work with both squads making sure they are in the right mental state. For Floris, communication is key.
“We do weekly meetings at the beginning of every Monday, and we talk about the training and race ahead,” Floris said. “We talk about it ahead of time so they can approach the race knowing what they are doing, and kinda just go on autopilot.”
Team talks, individual talks, but every athlete has a different approach, Floris said. It’s all about learning each other and what is best for their own individual performance and respecting one another for how they prepare for the upcoming race.
“We have individual meetings with them to talk about their mantras, because that’s personal for everybody, and everybody has to get to a different level of hype before a race,” Floris said. “Talking that through as a team [to know] if some person needs to get in their zone and tune everybody else out, everybody knows that, and they don’t think their teammates being rude. Then people know that how that person is, and to respect each other how they are before the race.”
With the only home meet of the season concluded, the Waves travel to Stockton to compete in the Pacific Invite on Sept. 20.
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Contact Justin Rodriguez via email: justin.rodriguez@pepperdine.edu
