Irvine, CA -- A memorable Bronco Invitational at Baylands Park this past Saturday featured many lifetime bests and strong performances for Academy of Art University Cross Country resulting in three weekly honors dealt out by the Pacific West Conference on Tuesday. On the men's side, junior Valentin Pepiot was selected as PacWest Runner of the Week for this third consecutive honor in weeks he has competed and Mack Marbas was named PacWest Freshman of the Week for a significant personal record at Bronco. Women's runner McKaela Christenson earned PacWest Freshman of the Week for her second time honored this season.

Up against 153 NCAA competitors, many of whom were representing Division I programs, Pepiot took home a 14th place finish after battling through the front pack for much of the 8k distance. His time of 24:04.2 made him the top NCAA DII finisher.

Marbas, the second finisher for ART U, captured 71st out of 153 qualified runners with a time of 24:55.0 for his new 8k personal record. He was 11 NCAA Division II spots behind Pepiot and dominated his previous lifetime best by over 40 seconds.

Christenson helped the Urban Knights take 16th as a team with her own 6k lifetime best of 21:28.3. She took 34th overall, third among NCAA Division II runners, working together with sophomore Kaelyn Harbison at the front of the pack much of the way. This is now her second PacWest Freshman of the Week honor in the past four weeks.

The Urban Knights now gear up for the PacWest Conference Cross Country Championships set to be hosted by Fresno Pacific at Woodward Park on Nov. 7.