Stepping forward from its
success at the Pacific West Conference Championships, Academy of Art University Cross Country now sends its largest contingent ever with 11 Urban Knights to the 2014 NCAA Division II West Regional Championships hosted by Montana State Billings. On Saturday, Nov. 22, the ART U men's squad (
Valentin Pepiot,
Mack Marbas,
Austin Esposito,
Logan Means,
Brett Bermudez,
Chris Costa,
Austin Murray) as well as four individuals on the women's side (
McKaela Christenson,
Kaelyn Harbison,
Elizabeth Khuu,
Ericka Taylor) will have their opportunity to reach NCAA Nationals two weeks later.
The men's 10k race begins at 11:00 AM MST (10:00 AM PST) and the women's 6k race follows at 12:15 PM MST (11:15 AM PST). The top six men's teams and top six women's teams will advance to the National Championships and the top three individuals not on one of the qualifying teams will also advance.
Ranked sixth in the West Region by the United State Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) upon exiting the PacWest Championships with a second place finish, the ART U men's squad now finds itself in uncharted territory as they are the first Urban Knights team to compete at a cross country regional.
PacWest
Newcomer of the Year Valentin Pepiot and
Freshman of the Year Mack Marbas have led all the way, crossing the finish line less than three seconds from one another in third and fourth respectively.
A three-time PacWest Runner of the Week, Pepiot won two events and was the top-DII finisher at the
Stanford Invitational and
Bronco Invitational. He was named
USTFCCCA Division II National Athlete of the Week on Sept. 29.
Marbas finished third in a
tri-meet with San Francisco State and Cal State East Bay, 21st at the
San Francisco State Invitational, and was once the
PacWest Freshman of the Week after his lifetime best (24:55) at the Bronco Invitational.
Austin Esposito also broke into the Top 10 for
All-PacWest Second Team honors with a 25:37.97 that put him ninth overall. The mark was his second-lowest to date behind his personal record (25:35.2) which came most recently at the Bronco Invitational.
Logan Means comes off the best race of his career, having taken 25th overall (26:29.27) while
Brett Bermudez,
Chris Costa, and
Austin Murray have all made steady progress en route to their first career 10k race as collegiate cross country runners.
Like the men, the women have had a pair up front all season long as well with PacWest
Freshman of the Year McKaela Christenson combining with
All-PacWest Second Team sophomore
Kaelyn Harbison for a one-two punch. Christenson placed sixth at the PacWest Championship, the top-freshman finisher (22:04.72), for her third top-10 result this season which included second place at the
Lancer Invitational in her collegiate debut. She won PacWest Freshman of the Week twice.
At PacWest, Harbison finished strong at 22:11.84 to best the top runners from Fresno Pacific, BYU-Hawaii, and Point Loma. Harbison's mark was the second lowest of her collegiate career behind what she did at Bronco (21:44.4).
Khuu and Taylor went 23:07.42 and 23:20.62 respectively to each claim
All-PacWest Third Team awards by finishing in the conference's top 21. Both saw their 6k lifetime bests not long ago with Khuu going 22:19.3 and Taylor 22:36.7 at Bronco.
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