2019 PacWest Poll
1.	Biola (9)	99
2.	Notre Dame de Namur	86
3.	Academy of Art (1)	82
4.	Azusa Pacific	70
5.	Fresno Pacific	52
6.	Hawai’i Pacific	50
6.	Concordia	50
8.	Holy Names	23
9.	Dominican	21
10.	Chaminade	17
First-place votes in parenthesis

TEAM CAPSULES

IRVINE, Calif. – Biola received all but one first-place vote to defend its PacWest title for the 2019 season with all five counting runners returning from the champion team.
 
The Eagles are now eligible for the NCAA postseason for the first time, and head coach Sean Henning set up his schedule to prepare the Eagles for a strong postseason. Biola open’s the season with races in Fullerton, California, Monmouth, Oregon, and Sacramento, California, which are the locations of the PacWest Championships, NCAA West Regional and NCAA Championships.
 
PacWest individual champion Gabe Plendcio, who finished last year’s race in Fresno with a time of 23:43 is back for the Eagles along with Gio Orellana, Angel Escobar, Brady DeHaven and Ryan St. Pierre who all earned All-PacWest honors last season. Ryan Thompson also returns for Biola after collecting All-PacWest recognition in 2017 before missing last season.
 
Last year, Notre Dame de Namur was picked eighth in the preseason poll but finished in third place in the conference. Now the Argonauts are picked second after returning everyone from last year’s team while adding to the depth of the roster. PacWest Cross Country Freshman of the Year Anthony Garcia and Track Freshman of the Year Jason Gomez are both returning for NDNU along with Lawson Sims and Williams Ordaz who both earned all-conference accolades last season.
 
Academy of Art received one first-place vote and is picked third in the preseason poll after taking second place in the PacWest last season. The Urban Knights have first-team All-PacWest honoree Rabah Houali back on the team for his senior season. In his second year as head coach, Steve Fuelling is looking to lead the Urban Knights to their first PacWest title since 2009.
 
Azusa Pacific took 12th place in the NCAA West Regional last year and is picked fourth in the PacWest preseason poll. Nathaniel Tamminga earned second-team All-PacWest recognition last year and is back for the Cougars. He also had the best individual finish of any PacWest runner at the regional championship, taking 25th place.
 
Fresno Pacific is picked to do one spot better than last year, in fifth place in the preseason poll. The Sunbirds return Andrew Wolfert and Seth Garcia, who finished 32nd and 33rd in the PacWest Championships, respectively. Hawai`i Pacific took fourth place last year and is picked in a tie sixth in the preseason poll with Concordia. Lukas Motschmann is the top returner for the Sharks as he finished 23rd in the PacWest Championships. Hector Arteaga returns for the Eagles after meriting a third-team All-PacWest honor last year.
 
Holy Names, Dominican and Chaminade round out the preseason poll for the PacWest. Buay Deng returns for Dominican after helping the Penguins to an eighth-place team finish while earning third-team All-PacWest honors.
 
Chaminade and Hawai`i Pacific were the first NCAA Division II teams to start their seasons, running in the UH Big Wave Invitational on August 31. The season begins for the rest of the league this weekend with Holy Names, Biola and Notre Dame de Namur hosting races. The Biola Invitational is a preview of the PacWest Championships and will feature a total of six PacWest teams. On September 14, four of the Bay Area Schools will compete in the Kim Duyst Invitational, which will also feature some CCAA programs.
 
The regular season race with the most PacWest teams will be on September 28 with all eight California teams going to the Capital Cross Challenge in Sacramento, Calif. The last big race of the regular season is the SF State Invitational on October 11.
 
The PacWest Championships will be at 9 a.m. on October 26 at Ted Craig Regional Park, where Plendcio and Biola will look to defend their titles. The annual PacWest banquet will be held on the campus of Biola University on October 25.
 
Two weeks later, the NCAA West Regional will be held in Monmouth, Oregon, where teams will look to qualify for the NCAA National Championships in Sacramento, California on November 23.