Biola teammed for a second place finish at their own race in Fullerton against 14 other squads to earn Team of the Week honors. Meanwhile in Ceres, Academy of Art's Grace Southern ran a spirited race against some of west region's best, finishing fourth at the Kim Duyst XC Invitational. 

2024 Results/Schedule
2024 USTFCCCA National Poll
 
RUNNER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art's Grace Southern, Sr., Middletown, Calif.                                                
Academy of Art's Grace Southern finished fourth in a deep field at the Kim Duyst XC Invitational in Ceres. Southern covered the 6K route at the River Oaks Golf Course in 21:13.5, finishing behind Chico State sisters Della and Iresh Molina, and Stanislaus State's Annie Wild. Southern, who was an All-PacWest and All-West Region runner last year, was the only non-Chico State or Stanislaus runner in the top 10. A total of 77 runners were in the twilight race run under the lights. For Southern, it was her third time winning at PacWest Runner of the Week award.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Biola Eagles                                                                                                                                
Biola ran to a second place standing at the Biola Invitational to earn Team of the Week honors. The Eagles had runners cross the line 3-4-5 with Bethany Mapes leading the way with a time of 17:18.5 on the 5K course. Lynette Ruiz was the next Biola runner in fourth (17:27) followed by Aislin Taylor in fifth (17:37). BU totaled 38 points to team champion The Master's 29 (the Mustangs are ranked No. 3 in the NAIA preseason poll). "Our goal was to run smart for two miles and really hammer the last mile," said Biola head coach Sean Henning. "We did that and unfortunately finished second, The Master's did a great job. We moved up significantly in the last mile which was the goal of the day. We still have things to work on but I'm pleased with the effort."
 
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: The latest west region and national rankings are expected to come out today and tomorrow (Tuesday-Wednesday). In the previous regional rankings, Biola checked in at No. 15 and Concordia was No. 26...Back to the race in Fullerton at the Ted Craig Regional Park, Point Loma finished fourth of 14 teams and Vanguard was fifth. The Sea Lions, with 92 points, finished just one slot back of the University of San Diego (91 points). Zaila Smith was PLNU's top runner in ninth place (17:44) and Madeline Reeves was tenth (17:45). Kate Baranski paced Vanguard in 17th (18:06)...In addition to Grace Southern's outstanding race (see above), ART U's Lina Hanich placed 23rd in Ceres with a time of 23:00. The Urban Knights ran four total runners so did not have a team score...Jessup was sixth in the team field, led by Tayla Starr (25:12) and Domincan was seventh with Sarah Chavez the Penguins' top runner (26:12). 

LOOKING AHEAD: Five PacWest schools will race next Saturday (Sept. 21) at the UC Riverside Invitational--Azusa Pacific, Fresno Pacific, Vanguard, Westmont and Concordia. On Friday, Dominican will run in Lodi at the Pacific Invitational, and on Oahu Chaminade will host their annual invitational at Kapiolani Park, which will include Hawai`i Pacific and Hawai`i Hilo. Fresno Pacific will also send runners to the San Francisco State Invite on Saturday.