SAN DIEGO—The Fresno Pacific men unseated multi-year winner Azusa Pacific last year as the Pacific West Conference champion, and they are off to big lead after the first day of events in 2026.

The Sunbirds, through a half-dozen events, have 94 team points to second-place Concordia’s 69. Azusa Pacific is third with 40. On the women’s side, defending champ Azusa Pacific has a narrow lead over Concordia, 70-69, Biola is next with a close 62 points.

Only six of the eventual 21 events were finals for both the men and women on a full day that featured a whole list of preliminary races. A jam packed finals day awaits on Saturday with 15 championships, beginning at 8:45 a.m. for field events and 12:15 p.m. on the track.

To see all the results including preliminary races and qualifiers for Saturday’s finals, click here.

WOMEN
The action began on Thursday with the women’s hammer throw in Chula Vista at the Elite Athletes Training Center. Hannah Richardson (Azusa Pacific) was a repeat winner, taking the hammer for the third year in a row, this time with a heave of 47.84 (167-11).

The only PacWest Conference meet record on Friday belonged to discus thrower Kristina Rakocevic from Azusa Pacific. Rakocevic’s throw of 177-0 will go into the conference record books and is also the top mark thus far in the country at the Division II level. There were six throwers in the event that are national provisional qualifiers.

The first day leader in the heptathlon is Point Loma’s Rowan Cebulski with 3,031 points, with four of the seven events in the books. The multi-event will continue and finish on Saturday morning.

The women’s pole vault winner was crowned today with Danielle Gould of Point Loma clearing the bar at 12-1 ½ (3.70).

Vanguard earned first place points via Kaylee Best in the long jump. Best won the event by a foot and a half with a leap of 20-6 ¼ (6.25).

The steeplechase belonged to Elizabeth Satterlee of host Point Loma, who cleared the barriers in 10:52.63.

Concordia’s Julia Pisenti won the javelin with a throw of 145-3 (44.27), and Biola's Madison Ebright finished the day with a win in the 10,000 meters in 36:29.13. Her teammate Claire Lesiw was second in 36:34.73, to give the Eagles a surge at the end of the meet to climb to 62 points. 

MEN
In the first event of the meet on Thursday in Chula Vista, Trey Vergenz of Concordia won the hammer for the second straight year with a fling of 179-6 (54.73).

Fresno Pacific’s Tevz Podlipnik won the javelin, throwing into a breeze off the ocean for a toss of 223-3 (68.05). In a event that featured three nationally ranked throwers, Biola’s Colby Shamblin was next at 214-6, followed by the meet record holder Dejan Mileusnic (FPU) at 210-11.

The first-day leader in the decathlon is Jackson Parma of Fresno Pacific (3,412) with Azusa Pacific’s Finn Coene right behind him with 3,398 points. Five of the five events have been contested with the remaining five on the schedule for Saturday morning.

Fresno Pacific captured the long jump with Micah Vossler leaping 23-6 ¼ (7.17).

The men’s discus was a final today, with Chavez Grey of Fresno Pacific winning with a fling of 175-10 (53.61). Right behind Grey was Tim Weller of Concordia with a throw of 175-6 (53.50). Both were very close to the PacWest meet record of 176-3 set by Azusa Pacific’s Weston Ellis in 2022.

Shane Bagley of Fresno Pacific won the pole vault in 16-4 ¾, off his personal best but just a couple inches away from the 13-year meet record of 16-6 and three quarters by Grand Canyon’s Vince Frawley in 2013.

Spencer Handorf scored points for Concordia by winning the steeplechase by a comfortable amount in 9:26.68.

In the last race of the day, Biola's Melt Von Molendorff held off Azusa Pacific’s Kyle Galinas down the stretch in a near photo finish in the 10,000 meters. Von Molendorff, the defending champ and meet record holder, broke away from the pack in the final lap, with Galinas running just off his hip. They were even coming down the final 100 meters until Von Moldendorff leaned away just near the finish line to win in 31:58.73, to Galinas’ 31:58.95.

Action will continue on Saturday with the decathlon and heptathlon continuing at 9 a.m.. The first field event starts at 10 a.m. and action on the track starts at 12:15 p.m.