LIVE RESULTS
Fresno Pacific will host the 2018 PacWest Cross Country Championships at Woodward Park on Nov. 2. The men’s 8k race will begin at 9:00 a.m., followed by the women’s 6k race at 10:15 a.m. An awards ceremony will follow at 11:15 a.m., honoring the All-PacWest performers (top-21 in each race), individual champions and team champions.
Biola was picked as the preseason favorite for the mens teams and more narrowly the favorite on the women’s side with Azusa Pacific just two points behind.
Women
The women’s individual and team titles will be highly-contested with top runners from Biola, Azusa Pacific, Academy of Art and Point Loma competing.
Eileen Stressling (Azusa Pacific) returns this season to the PacWest Championships after not competing in 2017. The 2015 individual champion earned two PacWest Runner of the Week honors this season. Stressling was the first non-DI runner to cross the finish line at the UCR Invitational, taking fifth place overall with a school record-breaking time of 20:35.9 on the 6k course.
Hannah Benoit-Bucher (Point Loma) was among the top-100 runners in NCAA Division II in 2017 after taking 68th place at the National Championships. She took fourth place at the 2017 PacWest Championships, which was the best result in the conference of any returner for the upcoming season. Benoit-Bucher won the first race of her senior season, covering the 5k course at the Biola Invitational in 18:10.58. She had an average mile time of 5:51.1 to become the first Sea Lion to win an individual title since joining the PacWest.
Hasna Kaarour (Academy of Art) recorded the best performance so far in her career as an Urban Knight, winning the 26th annual Triton Classic. Kaarour finished in first place with a time of 22:04.5 on the challenging 6k course in La Jolla, California. She led Academy of Art to a sixth-place team finish out of 11 teams. Kaarour also took first place at the San Francisco State Invitational with a time of 22:10.6 on the 6k course.
Clara Haynes (Biola) competed in the Women’s 6k Invitational al the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational. The freshman finished the race in 21:48.9 to claim 76th place out of 209 runners that were mostly from NCAA Division I teams. Haynes finished the Biola Invitational in seventh place with a time of 18:52.93 to help Biola finish in third place out of seven teams. She averaged a 6:04.7 mile time in her first collegiate race and was the second freshman across the finish line.
Men
Gabe Plendcio (Biola) has earned four runner of the week honors in the 2018 season. Plendcio took sixth place at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational, covering the 8k course in 23:59.1, which was the third-best time among NCAA Division II runners. The junior won the 2018 TMU Mustang Invitational, taking first place out of 189 runners to lead Biola to a third-consecutive 1st-place finish to start the 2018 season.
Victor Moreau (Academy of Art) covered the 8k course at the SF State Invitational in 25:12.6 to take first place and earn his second recognition as the PacWest Runner of the Week. Moreau took 12th place at the Lewis Crossover with a time of 25:01.9 to lead Academy of Art to a 13th-place team finish out of 27 schools. Moreau had an average mile time of 5:02.1 and finished within three seconds of the leading runner from the West Region.
Rickus Jacobs (Hawai'i Pacifc) finished in 42nd place at the UCR Invitational with a time of 25:14.9 to lead all PacWest runners. The senior helped the Sharks earn a 19th-place team finish out of 24 teams from all collegiate divisions. It was Jacobs first 8k race of the year after he helped the Sharks take first place in a 5k race earlier this season.