The 2021 Pacific West Conference Women’s Cross Country Championship team title was essentially decided by about a half second, giving Academy of Art the trophy by one point over runner-up Biola, 42-43.  
 

2022 PacWest Women’s Cross Country Poll
1.	Biola (5)	113
2.	Academy of Art (4)	112
3.	Azusa Pacific (2)	103
4.	Concordia	89
5.	Fresno Pacific	76
6.	Point Loma	67
7.	Hawai`i Pacific	53
8.	Dominican	36
9.	Hawai`i Hilo	34
10.	Holy Names	25
11.	Chaminade	18
First-place votes in parenthesis

The margin between first and second in the 2022 PacWest Preseason poll, voted on by the conference’s coaches, is just as razor thin.

This time, the coaches give the edge to Biola over the defending champion Urban Knights, 113-112. Azusa Pacific, who finished third in the 2021 race on Oahu’s North Shore, is tabbed to finished third in the poll with 103 points.

Academy of Art, who would go on to finish just ahead of Biola again at the 2021 NCAA West Regional (fourth and fifth place respectively) and qualify for the national meet, returns Delanie Dykes and Audrey Rosencrans, who crossed the PacWest finish line in seven and 12^th place. Head coach Bruce Jackson has two transfers and two freshmen to bolster the 2022 team, but gone to graduation are Hasna Kaarour and Natalia Novak. Novak is last fall’s PacWest champ, and Kaarour won the title in 2019.

Perhaps those losses was just enough for the league’s coaches to push the Eagles a poll point ahead of ART U. Biola earned five first place votes, Academy of Art had four and Azusa Pacific had two.

In the USTFCCCA West Region Preseason Poll, Biola is listed fifth, Azusa Pacific seventh and Academy of Art eighth.

Biola returns PacWest All-Conference runners Lynette Ruiz (2^nd place), Grace Calena (11^th) and Britta Holmberg (16^th) in their quest to win a first PacWest title. Ruiz, just a freshman last year, finished 21^st to earn all-region honors in the meet at Western Oregon.

The Eagles lost only three runners from a year ago and head coach Sean Henning has nine returnees and nine freshmen on their deep roster.

Azusa Pacific is expected to be nipping at the heels of the ‘Knights and Eagles. The Cougars finished 4-5-6 at last year’s Oahu meet, and two of those All-PacWest runners are back—Justine Stecko (5^th place) and Briseida Garcia Meza (6^th). Both APU runners were also First Team All-West Region honorees, and Stecko qualified for the national meet.

Additionally, the Cougars return six runners from 2021 and second-year head coach Sean Smith has added three transfers and eight freshmen.

In fourth place in the 2021 race and in the 2022 poll are the Concordia Golden Eagles. Concordia has its top three finishers from a year ago back on campus in Porshe Eismann (10^th), Angelique Antonini (18^th) and Adriana Gil (21^st). Head coach Keegan Bloomfield has a large roster with 14 returnees overall, seven freshmen and they lost only three runners.

Tabbed to finish fifth is the 2019 champion Fresno Pacific Sunbirds. FPU was fifth last fall and veteran head coach Ray Winter has leading 2021 runner Yorkabel Gebrehiwot to lead his cast. Gebrehiwot was 24^th last year at the PacWest Championships and was the conference Freshman of the Year in 2019. Eight runners are back for the Sunbirds and Winter has four freshmen.

Point Loma, who won the 2018 PacWest championship in a tiebreaker over Azusa Pacific, sits at sixth in the preseason poll. New head coach Landon Bright replaces longtime leader Jerry Arvin and he has the Sea Lions’ top runner back from a year ago, Aubrie Nex (20^th place). Point Loma has 10 other returnees and 11 freshmen for Bright to work with.

Hawai`i Pacific grabbed the seventh spot in the poll with seven returnees and just two runners gone for head coach Jackie Sgambati. Dominican (head coach Teressa DiPerna) is eighth, having lost four runners including graduated Julianna Mendez, who finished 17^th last year.

Hawai`i Hilo (ninth), Holy Names (10^th) and Chaminade (11^th) round out the poll. The Vulcans and longtime coach Jaime Guerpo return their top two runners in Olivia Jarvis and Emma Heidelmeier. Holy Names (head coach Anthony Lozano) has their top runner back in Jade Guerrero and Chaminade returns five and lost three for leader Shadrack Nabea.

Seven of the PacWest’s 11 teams will open this Saturday (Sept. 3). All three Hawai`i teams will be at the Big Wave Invitational on the North Shore, while Dominican and Academy of Art will run at the University of San Francisco Invitational. Fresno Pacific will run at the Sonoma Invite and Azusa Pacific will open at Cal State Fullerton’s race.
Biola will kick off their year on Friday, Sept. 9 at the Vanguard Invitational, and Concordia will run at San Bernardino on Saturday the 10^th. Holy Names will also run its first race on the 10^th at Stanislaus State.

Of course, the pinnacle of the season is the Pacific West Conference Championships, hosted this year by Academy of Art on November 5. The race will be run in San Leandro at the Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline Course. The west regional is two weeks later (Nov. 19) in Billings, Mont., and the 2022 NCAA National Championships are Friday, December 2 at University Place, Wash.