FRESNO, Calif.--The Azusa Pacific men's cross country team has twice been a Pacific West Conference Championship runner-up and has finished third four times since joining the conference in 2012. Last year at the conference championships in San Leandro, the Cougars finished an agonizing second place by a mere one point behind champion Biola. 

Could this be the year that the Cougars break through? On paper, they are the favorite to win the 2023 Pacific West Conference Championships, to be held this coming Saturday (October 21) at Fresno's Woodward Park. Start time for the men's eight kilometer race is 10 a.m., with the women's 6K championship beginning at 9 a.m. (women’s preview can be found here on Friday).

Nine teams will toe the starting line for the men's race.

Azusa Pacific was one digit behind the Eagles at the 2022 conference race, but the Cougars had the best placing among PacWest teams at the NCAA West Regional (3rd) and the NCAA Championships (21). Head coach Sean Smith has four of his top five finishers back from that team including all-region runners Nixon Korir, Felix Perrier, Riley Burns and Dider Sandoval. Korir was fifth at the conference championships, Perrier was ninth, Sandoval was tenth and Burns was 12th.

The Cougars lost Salvador Capetillo, but Smith replaced him with two runners that will be individual title contenders. Dominican transfer Jared Wright was a top 10 crosser for the Penguins in 2022 and is now a Cougar. Oklahoma State grad transfer Juan Diego Castro is also now in an APU singlet after a standout career for the Cowboys. He is on the short list of runners who could cross the line first at Woodward Park. 

Bryan Banuelos of the host Sunbirds is also expected to be in the individual title mix, along with Biola's Ryan Todd and Jerry Baltzer and Westmont's Zola Sokhela. The Sunbirds, who won the PacWest title in 2021 and were third last year, will have the advantage of running on their home course and will push the Cougars.

So will defending champ Biola, who graduated 2022 champ Benjamin White but they return Baltzer (third last year) and Todd (seventh in 2022). Concordia has a deep squad that will battle the Sunbirds and Eagles for the upper tier of spots. Individually, Sokhela already has a conference title to his credit, having won the Golden State Athletic Conference title last fall. This year, he has already won two races and three PacWest Runner of the Week awards.

In addition to Westmont, other squads vying for placing on Saturday will be Academy of Art, Dominican, Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade.

To learn more about the meet, including how to follow the Live Results, go to the Championships page.