MALIBU, Calif. --- UC Irvine opened the 2016 season in Malibu Thursday afternoon, going 3-1 in dual-meet scoring at the Pepperdine Invitational.

UCI defeated Long Beach State (20-43), Pepperdine (20-43) and CSU Bakersfield (17-46) while narrowly falling to USC (30-25).

Marisa Gonzalez was the top runner for the Anteaters, finishing fifth with a time of 15:36.34 over the 4,000-meter course at Alumni Park.

Anastasia Karnaze placed sixth in 15:46.56, Megan Mirkhanian was eighth (15:57.62), Keely Boyd 11^th (16:04.31) and Aliya Shah 12^th (16:05.97).

Veronica Lopez finished 14^th in 16:27.50, Hannah Ruby was 15^th in 16:29.49, Pearl Law 17^th (16:36.65), Brenda Dorantes 18^th (16:38.40), Hallie Pullum 21^st (16:42.21), Brooke Dorsey 26^th (16:52.98) and Yulissa Mendoza was 30^th in 17:08.71.

Madison Ricks from USC was the individual champion with a time of 15:14.37.

The Anteaters return to action Sept. 17 at the UC Riverside Invitational.

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