IRVINE, Calif. – After winning the PacWest Championships for the first time in program history, Fresno Pacific also won all four year-end awards for men’s cross country with Patrick Kiprop being named the PacWest Runner and Freshman of the Year.
 
Xavier Smith finished runner-up at the PacWest Championships and earned recognition as the PacWest Newcomer of the Year, while head coach Ray Winter earned the nod for PacWest Coach of the Year. The Sunbirds had a total of three All-PacWest first-team selections with Bryan Banuelos also finishing in the top-3 at the PacWest Championships in Kahuku, Hawai`i.
 
This is just the second time that one team has won all four awards in the 12 years that the PacWest has given out these honors. It is also only the third time that the Runner of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards have gone to the same runner.
 
Kiprop dominated the PacWest Championships as he earned his fourth individual title of the year. Kiprop blazed through the 8K course on a windy morning in 24:38.2 and was in first place at all three splits. The PacWest Runner of the Year will go into Saturday’s NCAA West Regional undefeated during the 2021 season.
 
Smith transferred to Fresno Pacific from Cal State East Bay to help the Sunbirds win a PacWest title. He took second place at the PacWest Championships with a time of 24:50.5. Smith started the race at a comfortable pace and was in third place at the second split. He had the best time in the second half of the race, outpacing even Kiprop by nine seconds to finish in second place.
 
Winter earned his second PacWest Coach of the Year award after having won the women’s cross country award in 2019. He joins Ben Gall from California Baptist and Norman Kaluhiokalani from BYU-Hawaii as the only coaches to have won Coach of the Year for both men’s and women’s cross country.
 
Azusa Pacific also had two runners on the All-PacWest first team with Nixon Korir in fourth place and Joshua Valesco in sixth place. Dominican’s Jared Wright finished in fifth place and Ronald Kigen led Biola in seventh place to also earn first-team honors.
 

2021 ALL-PACWEST MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY AWARDS
Runner of the Year	Newcomer of the Year	Freshman of the Year	Coach of the Year
Patrick Kiprop Fresno Pacific	Xavier Smith Fresno Pacific	Patrick Kiprop Fresno Pacific	Ray Winter Fresno Pacific

2021 ALL-PACWEST MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY TEAM
Name	School	Class	Hometown/Previous School
FIRST TEAM
Patrick Kiprop	Fresno Pacific	Fr.	Eldoret, Kenya/Arnesen’s
Xavier Smith	Fresno Pacific	Jr.	Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro
Bryan Banuelos *	Fresno Pacific	So.	Fresno, Calif./Edison
Nixon Korir *	Azusa Pacific	So.	Eldoret, Kenya/Kemeloi Boys
Jared Wright	Dominican	So.	Castle Rock, Colo./Castle View
Joshua Velasco	Azusa Pacific	Sr.	Gardena, Calif./Antelope Valley
Ronald Kigen	Biola	So.	Bomet, Kenya/Lipscomb
SECOND TEAM
Jona Bodirsky	Hawai’i Pacific	So.	Muhlhausen, Germany/Leibniz Gymnasium Ostringen
Michael Schneider	Azusa Pacific	Fr.	San Ramon, Calif./Dougherty
Jerry Baltzer	Biola	Fr.	Whittier, Calif./La Serna
Brady DeHaven **	Biola	Jr.	San Diego/Granite Hills
Ryan Sorensen	Biola	So.	Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara CC
Angel Aguirre *	Concordia	Sr.	Whittier, Calif./California HS
Dider Sandoval	Azusa Pacific	Fr.	Glendora, Calif./Glendora
THIRD TEAM
Jacob Resendez	Fresno Pacific	So.	Bakersfield, Calif./Liberty
Saba Khvichava	Academy of Art	Jr.	Poti, Georgia/Cloud County CC
Abesolom Teffra	Fresno Pacific	Fr.	Fresno, Calif./Central
Riley Burns	Azusa Pacific	Fr.	San Diego/Maranatha
Hudson Lockette *	Academy of Art	Jr.	Kailua, Hawaii/James B. Castle
Aidan Arredondo	Biola	Fr.	Whittier, Calif./La Serna
Bo Olsen	Fresno Pacific	Fr.	Clovis, Calif./Buchanan