Biola won the 2023 Pacific West Women's Cross Country Championships, finished second at the NCAA West Regionals and placed 17th at the NCAA National Championships. 

14 runners return from that title team, leading PacWest coaches to pronounce them the favorite to win the conference title for the third straight time in 2024. The Eagles garnered all 14 first place votes for a perfect poll score of 169. 2023 runner-up Concordia is next with 150 points, followed very closely by Azusa Pacific with 146. 

Biola had three runners in the top six in 2023 in Fresno and six in the top 17 to compile 40 points and the title. The majority of those runners are back--Bethany Mapes (3rd at PacWest), Lynette Ruiz (6th at PacWest), Karis Brown (15th), Lolo Landrith (17th), and Ella Voris (22nd). Head coach Sean Henning did lose Susie Bruennig, who was fourth in Fresno and second at the NCAA West Regional in Oregon, but he has 14 back with experience along with a pair of freshmen and a transfer in Caitlin Chea (San Jose State).

The Eagles will look to be the first conference team to win three titles in a row since California Baptist won four from 2014-17. Henning has the guns to do it with Ruiz (2022 PacWest champ) and Mapes (8th at regional meet last fall) leading the way.

Concordia (150 poll points) received seven second place votes and seven third place ballots. Head coach Keegan Bloomfield's 2023 team finished second at the PacWest Championships, led by conference champion Jori Paradis. Paradis and eight others are gone, but the Golden Eagles still have a talented roster paced by 2023  PacWest runner-up Porshe Eismann. Eismann ran 20:58 on the 6K course last year, seven seconds behind Paradis, and she also crossed the line ninth at the west regionals. Also back for CUI is Claudia Vera (Sr., Third Team All-PacWest).

Azusa Pacific is next on the poll list (146 points), just a few scant votes behind Concordia. The Cougars were third in Fresno last year and tenth in the regional race at Western Oregon. APU had two runners in the top seven at the PacWest meet, with Justine Stecko (fifth) and Sofia Camacho (seventh) compiling valuable points. Sofia Vasquez crossed the line 21st for the Cougars and returns. Five total runners are back for first-year head coach Jebreh Harris, who had to rebuild a bit with four transfers, including D-I runners Kimberly Pena (CSU Fullerton) and Olivia Alexandre (U. of San Francisco). 

Next is Point Loma, who also has a new head coach in Jake Poyner. The Sea Lions are fourth in the poll with 126 points, returning 10 runners from the 2023 team. That group includes Maddie Reeves (18th PacWest), Ryley Burns (24th PacWest), Elizabeth Satterlee (28th), Eliana Perks (43rd), and Bree Gentry (50th). Zaila Smith, who was a three-time all-conference runner at Division I Middle Tennessee State, will help bolster the line-up.

Fresno Pacific (108) lands in the fifth poll spot. Ray Winter has seven returnees and five departures, led by Julissa Avila (25th PacWest) and Ariana Womack (30th PacWest). The Sunbirds added depth with eight freshmen on the roster. FPU finished fifth last year. PacWest newcomer Vanguard is sixth in the ranking (92 points). The Lions finished second in the Golden State Athletic Conference Championships last year, but head coach Bryan Wilkins has ten departures from that successful squad. Top runners returning for the Lions are Kate Baranski (8th GSAC) and India Moors (26th GSAC). Six freshmen will help Wilkins rebuild.

Rounding out the top half of list is Academy of Art in seventh (85). The Urban Knights return four runners for brand new coach Bobby Wilson, including Grace Southern (17th at NCAA Regionals, 10th at PacWest). Westmont is eighth (83), just behind ART U. Warrior head coach Russell Smelley has five runners back and a huge recruiting class of nine. Westmont was seventh in its first season in the PacWest in 2023.

Jessup is the second PacWest newcomer in 2024. With 56 poll points, head coach Jeff Magley has three returnees and lost three from the 2023 squad that was fifth at the GSAC Championships. Chaminade (51) is tenth. Head coach Shadrack Nabea returns five from last year's team that was eighth in Fresno. Fellow Oahu team Hawai`i Pacific (40) follows, with new coach Kevin Schwartz welcoming back seven Shark runners. 

Rounding out the list is Hawai`i Hilo (29) and Dominican (27). Head coach Alan Ryan of the Vulcans has a pair of returnees and a Division I grad transfer in Isabel Raymond (Iona). The Penguins and head coach Teressa DiPerno have four returnees, four freshmen and a transfer in 2024. 
 
The 2024 Pacific West Conference Championships will be at a new course this year, the OC Great Park in Irvine on October 26 (9 am). Seven of the 13 PacWest teams will get a trial run on that course to open the season on September 6 at Concordia's Irvine Invitational. Everyone else will hear their first starter's gun on Sept. 7 at either Sonoma State or at the Big Wave Invitational on the north shore of Oahu. 

To see the complete 2024 women's cross country schedule, click here.