PacWest Conference Championships Recap

The PacWest Championships made only their third trip to Southern California and the first appearance since Biola hosted the event in 2019.

Although Concordia excelled in the role of meet host, the spotlight belonged Saturday to the Azusa Pacific men’s team and Biola women’s program at Great Park in Irvine.

As the men took to the 8-kilometer course, the host Eagles of Concordia – No. 7 in the West Region in NCAA Division 2 – had seven runners among the top 12, led by Dustin Berger and Fernando Aguirre.

Over the next 2 kilometers, Azusa Pacific’s Jared Wright and Felix Perrier would move up into the top three.

The Cougars, ranked No. 5 in the West Region, would have three in the top nine and pre-meet favorite Biola – the third-ranked program in the West Region – would move four athletes into the top 11.

Wright and Perrier would move into the lead and hold those top two spots through the finish.

Wright captured the PacWest title by running 23:51.7 and Perrier finished second in 24:00.4.

Melt Von Molendorff, the conference Freshman of the Year last season for Biola, took third in 24:04.5, just ahead of Azusa Pacific’s Riley Burns (24:06.3) and Westmont’s Senzo Sokhela (24:11.9).

Biola would place five across the line before Azusa Pacific, but it was the Cougars winning by a 29-44 margin over Biola, with host Concordia finishing third at 78 points and Westmont in fourth with 92 points.

Azusa Pacific became the first men’s team to defend the title since Biola captured back-to-back men’s championships in 2018-19.

Biola, ranked No. 4 in the West Region and 19th nationally in Division 2, was motivated to three-peat in the women’s 6-kilometer race, with host Concordia – No. 7 in the West – and Azusa Pacific, No. 10 in the region, looking for a way to pull off the upset.

Point Loma’s Zaila Smith and Elizabeth Satterlee led the pack of 20 through the first kilometer.

Biola had four competitors in the lead pack and Concordia had five.

Over the next 2 kilometers, Grace Southern would move into the lead, followed closely by Biola’s Bethany Mapes and Aislin Taylor, as that lead pack stretched out from a group of 20 down to seven.

Azusa Pacific’s Jessica Kampman would be among the lead group and she held onto the advantage to win the conference individual crown in 20:28.1.

Lynette Ruiz would move into second and have to run alone for the rest of the race, clocking 20:41.6, with her teammate Mapes finishing third for the second year in a row in 20:55.4.

Taylor placed fifth in 21:12.6, Jaina Kang earned eighth in 21:24.5 and Hailey Wurzbach achieved 11th in 21:35.3 for Biola, which became the first women’s program to win three titles in a row since former conference member Cal Baptist captured four consecutive championships in 2014-17.

The Eagles prevailed with 29 points, Concordia was second at 76 points, Point Loma took third with 86 points and Azusa Pacific placed fourth at 97 points.

Teams will move onto the NCAA Division 2 West Regionals on Nov. 16 at Amen Park in Billings, Mont.