Azusa Pacific is the PacWest Team of the Week for the second time in October, finishing second at the San Francisco State Invitational. In that same race, Concordia's Noah Plaza crossed the finish line second to share Runner of the Week honors with Biola's Melt von Molendorff, who was eighth in a stacked field in Illinois.

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RUNNER OF THE WEEK(S): Biola's Melt von Molendorff, Jr., 5-9, Cape Town, South Africa                            
Biola's Melt von Molendorff ran in a pack with some of the most talented runners in the country and finished eighth at the Lewis Invitational in Romeoville, Illinois. With 12 nationally ranked teams in the field, the South African native worked his way to a time of 24:17 on the 8K course for a top ten finish. The junior, who finished third at the 2024 PacWest Championships, has finished inside the top 12 in each of his races this season. "Melt had a solid day, even though he thinks he should have been better," shared his coach Sean Henning. "I thought he did well moving up and he should be proud of the effort." This is von Molendorff's second Runner of the Week honor this year and the fourth in his two seasons at Biola. 

RUNNER OF THE WEEK(S): Concordia's Noah Plaza, Sr., 5-7, Gilbert, Ariz.                                                        
Concordia's Noah Plaza served notice that he will be a contender for the PacWest title in a few weeks with a strong showing at the SF State Invite on Saturday. The veteran runner clocked 24:22 on the Golden Gate Park course, finishing behind only Jackson Oliveira of Stanislaus State (24:17). The Arizona native crossed the line ahead of fellow conference contenders Kyle Galinas (24:52) and Aaron Lakeman (25:05) of Azusa Pacific, previous PacWest Runner of the Week winners. Plaza finished seventh at the PacWest Championships last year and was 19th at the NCAA West Regional. This is his second all-time PacWest Runner of the Week award.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific Cougars                                                                                                            
Azusa Pacific is the PacWest Team of the Week for the second time in a row and third time this season. The Cougars were second in San Francisco with 70 team points, behind Chico State (45) and just ahead of Concordia (77). Kyle Galinas finished fifth (24:52) and Aaron Lakeman was sixth (25:05) to pace the Cougars, with Jonas Teeter following in 17th (25:26). Rounding out the Cougar scoring was Maddox Oliver (21st) and Erick Leal (35th). The defending PacWest champions will take next weekend off from racing to prepare for their conference title defense on Oahu, Oct. 25. 
 
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Biola was 17th at the Lewis Invitational. No. 6 nationally ranked Colorado Christian won the event by 37 points over No. 10 Saginaw Valley State. In addition to Melt von Molendorff's finish of tenth, the next Eagle to cross the tape for Grant Miller in 55th with a time of 24:55...At Golden Gate Park, Concordia finished just behind Azusa Pacific for third place. The Golden Eagles had 77 points in the 14-team field, paced by Noah Plaza (see above) and Moises Benito (12th place, 25:17). Spencer Handorf was right behind Benito in 13th in 25:20...In Hawaii, the Sharks of Hawaii Pacific clipped Chaminade 33-45 at the UH Hilo Invitational at the Naniloa GC on the Big Island. Aaron Garcia of HPU won the race in 22:04, followed by Chaminade's Kalamakua Francisco in 22:22. 

LOOKING AHEAD: PacWest teams will begin tapering down, looking ahead to the conference championships in less than two weeks on Oahu at the Hawaii Country Club (8:45 am Hawaii time). Three teams will race this week in Sunnyvale at the Bronco Invitational (Univ. of Santa Clara)--Fresno Pacific, Dominican and Jessup, while Vanguard will compete in Riverside at the UCR Highlander Invite.