Biola won the 2025 Pacific West Conference men’s cross country title by a solid 18 points, and two of their three closest contenders for that trophy will not line up with them for the 2026 championships this fall.

That, along with the fact that head coach Sean Henning has 12 runners back from that championship team makes Biola the unanimous preseason favorite for the title in just a little over two months from now, at least according to the coaches in the PacWest. All eight conference coaches picked the Eagles to repeat in the annual preseason poll.

Biola tallied 64 poll points, followed by Concordia with 54. Westmont was next (50), Vanguard had 40, Dominican 32, Hawaii Pacific 23, Jessup 14 and Chaminade 11.

Biola is the clear favorite with the 12 returnees, including First Team All-PacWest runner and Freshman of the Year Grant Miller, along with Second Team member Joshua Klausmeier. After winning the conference title in 2025, BU would go on to place seventh at the NCAA West Regional meet.

But the Eagles will have to make up for graduation of conference champion Melt von Molendorff and seven other key members. Henning will look to bridge that gap with seven incoming freshmen and two transfers in Zach Elam (University of San Francisco) and Robin Scheuring (Keiser University).

Concordia, who has finished third in each of the last two PacWest Championships, is tabbed to finish second this year with 54 poll points. Wherever they end up, they will do so with a new coach as David Pleitez takes over for Keegan Bloomfield.

Pleitez inherits two of the top returnees in the conference with Spencer Handorf (Gr., First Team All-PacWest, 3rd place at PacWest Championships) and Dante Maldonado (Soph., Second Team All-PacWest, 14th place at PacWest Championships). He will have to replace one of most consistent runners in the league over the past four years in Noah Plaza.

Westmont follows closely with 50 poll points. Head coach Russell Smelley, remarkably in his 47^th season, has 18 returnees. That includes Samuel Nealon (20th at PacWest) and Hunter Skoglund (21st at PacWest). The Warriors were fifth in last year’s championships.

Vanguard comes in fourth with 40 points. Head coach Brian Wilkins, heading into an also remarkable 37^th season, has five runners back including Jesse O'Campo (24th at PacWest), Ommar Arroyo (39th at PacWest), and Caleb Dickerson (47th at PacWest).

Dominican lands in the fifth spot with 32 poll points. Head coach Teressa DiPerna lost her top runner but has ten returnees, paced by Diego Montag. Hawaii Pacific follows (23 point points) and coach Kevin Schwartz has five returning runners to lead his squad.

Jessup, who will host the PacWest Championships on their campus course in Rocklin on November 8, had 14 poll points. The Warriors have a new coach in Jordan Kurtz, with three returning runners to work with. Chaminade rounds out the poll (11 points), also with a new coach in Ty Sissel.

Gone from the conference map this year is long time power Azusa Pacific (moving to Division III) and Fresno Pacific (CCAA), who finished second last year.

Races begin today when Westmont runs at UC Santa Barbara. Friday finds Dominican at the University of San Francisco’s meet and Saturday’s slate show Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade at the University of Hawaii. Vanguard and Biola will run on Saturday at CSU Fullerton and Concordia will compete at CSU San Bernardino. Jessup runs at Simpson.

To see the complete schedule, click here. See the links at the top of page for capsules on each team and the Runners to Watch list.