Photos courtesy of Jeff Golden
Pepperdine women’s track finished competition at the Northern Arizona Invitational on Sunday. The two-day invitational was the second-ever indoor event for the Waves women’s track program.
“It was a great trip overall,” Head Coach Robert Radnoti said. “The meet was great for us, but we have some work cut out for us in our first indoor season.”
On the first day of the meet, junior Jordan Spencer recorded the top Division I time in the 600 meters at 1:38.65. She finished with the third-best time in the event overall.
Senior Katie Engel won the women’s 5,000 meters with a time of 19:34.27.
In the second day of competition, senior Mariah Gondeiro placed a new school record in the 3,000 meters. Gondeiro was first out of the two Division I runners in the competition with a time of 11:00.50 minutes, and finished third out of nine overall runners.
“It’s an honor to be able to break a school record,” Gondeiro said. “I am proud of all the women on this team for the hard work they put in for this meet, because it’s going to be a great season.”
Engel also broke another school record in the mile with a time of 5:31.28, taking seventh place out of 20 Division I runners.
In the women’s 60-meter dash, juniors Isabelle Connell and Jordan Spencer both posted top-10 finishes, as Connell finished fifth with a time of 7.86 seconds and Spencer captured ninth with a time of 7.97 seconds.
Sophomore Madison Hays improved her personal record in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 10.31, while fellow sophomore Madison Blume and junior Meri-Claire Montgomery saw top finishes in the 400 and the 800 respectively.
As for the 4×400 team consisting of Connell, Blume, freshman Catie Barilla and sophomore Claudia Rodriguez, the quartet recorded a time of 4:03.61, 11 seconds better than the team’s effort three weeks ago at the NAU Friday Night Duals.
The Waves will kick off their outdoor season on Saturday, Feb. 20 with the annual tri-meet at Westmont/UC Santa Barbara.
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