Biola head women’s cross country coach Sean Henning already had a few men’s Pacific West Conference championship trophies in his office, but last month had to clear up space for the school’s first women’s PacWest title winning trophy.
 
Now, Henning will have a Pacific West Conference Women’s Coach of the Year plaque to find room for. Henning was selected by his peers, and the coaches also tabbed Biola’s Lynette Ruiz as the PacWest Runner of the Year, BU’s Bethany Mapes as the Freshman of the Year and Azusa Pacific’s Eline Pinter as the Newcomer of the Year.
 
The end of the year awards are voted on by the conference’s coaches, but this was the first year that the entire season of results came into play, with the voting taking place after the national championships.
 
Biola won the PacWest title in 2022, after just missing in 2021—finishing one point behind Academy of Art. This year, the Eagles would win the PacWest title by 16 points over Azusa Pacific and would go on to place third at the NCAA West Regional in Billings, Montana, qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the state of Washington. They placed 26^th in their first-ever national championship experience.
 
Lynette Ruiz was a major reason for Biola’s success. She finished third at the season-opening Vanguard Invitational, was second at Pomona-Pitzer and then saved her best for the PacWest Championships.
 
On the six kilometer course in San Leandro, Ruiz blitzed the final 100 meters to just catch Azusa Pacific’s Pinter at the tape by two-tenths of a second (21:27.8). Just a sophomore, Ruiz finished second at the 2021 PacWest Championships as a freshman. The Simi Valley native is the first Biola runner to win PacWest Runner of the Year.
 
Eline Pinter had nothing to be ashamed of in finishing second to Ruiz. The grad transfer from the University of Indianapolis was outstanding all year for the Cougars. She finished fourth at the San Marcos Cougar Classic in her APU debut, was second at the PacWest championships and would earn All-West Region honors with a ninth place crossing at the West Region Championships. Pinter, from Belgium, is the third consecutive Azusa Pacific runner to win Newcomer of the Year.
 
Bethany Mapes is the second straight Eagle to win Freshman of the Year honors, after Ruiz won the same award in 2021. Mapes finished eighth at the PacWest championships, but was even more impressive a few weeks later at the NCAA West Regional. There, Mapes crossed the line in eighth place in a packed and talented field to earn All-West Region honors. That marked the best finish for a Biola runner in school history at the regional meet. The El Cajon native also had the best finish at the national meet for Biola, coming in 85^th.
 
The top seven finishers at the PacWest Championships on November 5 in San Leandro automatically earned First Team All-PacWest honors. The next seven are Second Team and spots 15-21 claim Third Team awards. Academy of Art’s Audrey Rosencrans is an All-PacWest honoree for the fourth time, joining just six other runners on that list in conference history. It was the third honor for Biola’s Grace Catena, who was a First Team Selection this year.  
 
 

2022 ALL-PACWEST WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY AWARDS
Runner of the Year	Newcomer of the Year	Freshman of the Year	Coach of the Year
Lynette Ruiz Biola	Eline Pinter Azusa Pacific	Bethany Mapes Biola	Sean Henning Biola

 

2022 ALL-PACWEST WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY TEAM
Name	School	Class	Hometown/Previous School
FIRST TEAM
Lynette Ruiz*	Biola	So.	Simi Valley, Calif. / Simi Valley HS
Eline Pinter	Azusa Pacific	Sr.	Antwerp, Belgium / Univ. of Indianapolis
Porshe Eismann*	Concordia	So.	Chandler, Ariz. / Coronado HS
Briseida Garcia Meza	Azusa Pacific	Jr.	Salida, Calif. / Saint Mary’s College
Leia Jones	Azusa Pacific	Fr.	Camano Island, Wash. / Stanwood HS
Grace Catena**	Biola	Sr.	Torrance, Calif. / Loyola Marymount
Jori Paradis	Concordia	Jr.	Silverton, Ore. / Silverton HS
SECOND TEAM
Bethany Mapes	Biola	Fr.	El Cajon, Calif. / Liberty Charter School
Yorkabel Gebrehiwot	Fresno Pacific	Jr.	Fresno, Calif. / Hoover HS
Ellie Stetina	Biola	Fr.	Whittier, Calif. / Sonora HS
Lauren Landrith	Biola	Fr.	Orange, Calif. / Lutheran HS
Audrey Rosencrans ***	Academy of Art	Sr.	Homer, Alaska / Homer HS
Hannah Champness	Biola	So.	Bakersfield, Calif. / Liberty HS
Britta Holmberg*	Biola	So.	Eagle, Idaho / The Ambrose School
THIRD TEAM
Aubrie Nex*	Point Loma	So.	Temecula, Calif. / Great Oak HS
Haleigh Guerrero	Biola	Jr.	Upland, Calif. / Claremont HS
Julissa Avila	Fresno Pacific	Fr.	Farmersville, Calif. / Farmersville HS
Karis Brown	Biola	Fr.	Chino, Calif. / Chino Hills HS
Maribel Aguilar	Fresno Pacific	So.	Victorville, Calif. / Serrano HS
Maggie Williams	Biola	Fr.	Bend, Ore. / Silvies River Charter School
Sara Feitz	Concordia	Jr.	Huntington Beach, Calif. / Fountain Valley HS

*Indicates Previous All-PacWest Winner