Women's Cross Country

Defending Champs Debut Just Fine, Win Both Weekly Awards

Biola wins its own Invite, with Bethany Mapes leading the way. Concordia and Jori Paradis dominate in San Bernardino

Defending PacWest champion Biola made its 2023 debut on Friday at their own invitational, edging NAIA power The Master's on a tough course with Bethany Mapes leading the way. CUI's Jori Paradis impressed in leading her Golden Eagle team to the win at the Coyote Challenge

2023 Results/Schedule
2023 USTFCCCA National Poll
 
RUNNER OF THE WEEK: Biola's Bethany Mapes, Soph., El Cajon, Calif.                                                                                
Bethany Mapes led a strong opening race for Biola with a third place finish at the Biola Invitational at Fullerton's Ted Craig Regional Park. Mapes, the 2022 PacWest Freshman of the Year, was clipped by The Master's Ellen Palmgren at the finish line by a tenth of a second, with Mapes recording a time of 17:56.1. The race was won by TMC's Hannah Fredericks, the defending GSAC champion. Both Fredericks and Palmgren are NAIA All-Americans. Mapes finished 12 seconds in front of her closest teammate. "It was also fun to race with someone at the last stretch," Mapes said. "I'm really competitive and I felt her coming behind me, but she just got me at the very end."

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Biola Eagles                                                                                                                                                
Biola topped three-time defending Golden State Athletic Conference champion The Master's to win its own Biola Invitational, 28-38. Bethany Mapes led the way with a third-place finish, but her Eagle teammates also occupied five other positions in the top 10 to win the race. In defeating the Mustangs, they defeated the No. 4 nationally ranked team in the NAIA. Britta Holmberg finished fourth on the tough 5K course (18:08), Lynette Ruiz was fifth (18:09), Hailey Wurzbach crossed the line seventh (18:46), Lauren Landrith was ninth (18:47) and Karis Brown completed the Biola scoring in tenth (18:47). "We wanted to run very controlled from the start and close well the last mile," mentioned head coach Sean Henning. "We were a little short-handed for the ladies race, but I thought they did really well and it was cool that they got to win while executing their controlled race plan."
 
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: In San Bernardino, Concordia was impressive. The Golden Eagles won the Coyote Challenge on CS San Bernardino's campus course with 15 team points. Jori Paradis won the 5K race in 17:52 and had teammates follow in the third (Madeline Jahshan 18:22), fourth (Porshe Eismann 18:55), fifth (Emily LIttlefield 19:00) and sixth spots (Hayley Killion 19:15). Host CSUSB finished second with 57 points...In Fullerton, Westmont finished fourth at the Biola Invitational (115 points) and Point Loma was fifth (121). Madeline Reeves was the top Sea Lion runner in sixth (18:42) and Anneline Breytenbach led the Warriors in 12th place (19:06)...On a Saturday night run near Modesto, Academy of Art finished third behind Stanislaus State (27) and CS East Bay (55) with 72 points at the Kim Duyst XC Invitational. Grace Southern ran another great race, finishing second on the 6K course in 21:55 behind winner Holly Little of Stanislaus State (21:45). Katharina Goetshal was the next Urban Knight runner in eighth (22:58) and Lina Hanich was ninth (23:01).

LOOKING AHEAD: Biola, Westmont and Academy of Art will take next weekend off, but eight other PacWest teams will be in action. Dominican will run on Friday at UC Davis' Stump Invitational. The three island teams will run at Oahu's Kapiolani Park at the Chaminade Invitational, and four squads will race at the UC Riverside Invite--Azusa Pacific (making its 2023 debut), Concordia, Fresno Pacific and Point Loma.