2018 NCAA Division II West Regional Championships Results

BILLINGS, Mont. – Stepping foot onto a snow-covered Amend Park for the NCAA Division II West Regional Championships, the Academy of Art men's and women's cross country teams each finished 11th on Saturday morning. The men were led by graduate student Freddie Hessian in 27th overall and the women had PacWest Newcomer of the Year graduate student Hasna Kaarour up front in 25th overall, earning All-Region honors as a result.

In a men's 10k race that saw 169 runners contending with one another throughout, Hessian found himself just five seconds behind the top runner from the Pacific West Conference, Azusa Pacific's Nathaniel Tamminga, in 27th overall with a time of 31:51.64. Fellow graduate student Victor Moreau (32:24.85) was next, crossing the finish line in 50th overall and counting as 49th toward the team score.

Redshirt junior Rabah Houali came through at 86th overall (84th for qualification purposes) sporting a time of 33:07.82. In their respective first 10k races as collegiate runners, redshirt freshman Logan Briner took 99th overall (97th toward the team score) with a 33:26.42 mark and freshman Hudson Lockette's 33:28.23 put him 101st individually (qualifying at 99th).

As a team, the men's 11th-place result (356) had them just behind 10th-place Central Washington and in front of the next two highest PacWest teams to qualify. Azusa Pacific (375) checked in at 12th and Notre Dame de Namur took 13th. The team title was captured by No. 4 Chico State (39) after Eddie King (30:49) was named the individual champion.

Three lifetime-bests came out of the five Academy of Art runners to qualify on the women's side paced by Kaarour in 25th overall. Her first time running below 22:00 on a 6k course saw her drop down to 21:51.41 and come through as the fourth-highest finisher from the PacWest. A strong effort up front came from senior Giulia McIsaac who crossed at 31st overall with a 22:06.19 mark.

PacWest Freshman of the Year Audrey Rosencrans offered the best time of her collegiate career at 22:25.9 which was good for 54th overall (53rd toward the team score). In the third NCAA Regional race of her career, redshirt senior Chandler Johnson came across in 87th (qualifying at 85th) with a time of 22:58.57 that was less than three seconds ahead of the Knights' final qualifier, redshirt junior Emma Johnson, who had her own lifetime-best of 23:01.52 in 88th overall (86th toward the team score).

A team score of 280 put the ART U women's squad 11th overall back of Central Washington (256) and in front of 12th-place Cal State San Bernardino (340). Thanks to the individual champion Emmanuelah Chelimo (20:57.5) and runner-up Nancy Jeptoo (21:08.7), No. 7 Alaska Anchorage (66) captured the team title over No. 10 Simon Fraser (85) in second and No. 5 Chico State (88) in third.

For individuals who qualify following an official announcement on Monday, Nov. 18, the NCAA DII National Championship races will take place on Saturday, Dec. 1 at the Bob O'Connor Golf Course at Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pa.