Men's Cross Country

Molnar, Plendcio Take First Place In Final Regular Season Races

IRVINE, Calif. – PacWest teams were busy in the penultimate week of the cross country regular season, and four runners won races, including both of this week’s PacWest Runners of the Week. Gabe Plendcio won the SF State Invitational and Zita Molnar won the Triton Classic, while Hawai`i Pacific swept the Hawai`i Hilo Invitational as Lukas Motschmann and Robyn Kaltenbrunn each took first place.
 
Awards for the week of Oct. 7-13
 
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
 
RUNNER OF THE WEEK
Zita Molnar, Point Loma
Sr. – Szombathely, Hungary/School of Commerce & Marketing/Mathematics
For the third time this year, Molnar recorded the best NCAA Division II time at a race, this time winning the Triton Invitational by a wide margin. She finished the 6K course in 22:00.8, beating the next runner by 35 seconds. It was Molnar’s final race before the PacWest Championships, where she will be one of the top contenders for the conference title.
 
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Patricia Hopkins, Point Loma
Fr. – Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo/Psychology
Hopkins earned her first conference honor by taking 18th place at the Triton Classic, finishing the race in 23:44.3. She was the third Sea Lion across the finish line and helped Point Loma take third place as a team out of six competitors.
 
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY
 
RUNNER OF THE WEEK
Gabe Plendcio, Biola
Sr. – Ramona, Calif./Ramona/History
Plendcio continued what has been a dominant senior season, winning his fourth PacWest Runner of the Week award by taking the SF State Invitational individual title. In his first 10K race of the season, Plendcio finished in 32:11.1 and helped Biola take first place as a team. Biola hosts this year’s PacWest Championships in two weeks as the defending champion, and Plendcio will attempt to defend his individual title as well.
 
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Jona Bodirsky, Hawai`i Pacific
Fr. – Muhlhausen, Germany/Leibniz Gymnasium/Electrical Engineering
Bodirsky recorded another runner-up finish at the Hawai`i Hilo Invitational, finishing the race in 26:27.9 on the 8K course. He finished 52 seconds behind Motschmann in first place as the duo helped Hawai`i Pacific earn first place as a team.