2018 PacWest Championships Results
FRESNO, Calif. – In their respective starts to the program's seventh postseason, the Academy of Art cross country teams turned in top-four finishes at the Pacific West Conference Championships out at Woodward Park on Friday morning. A late push helped the men claim second overall with three finishers (graduate student Freddie Hessian, redshirt junior Rabah Houali, and graduate student Victor Moreau) garnering All-PacWest First Team honors among the top six while the women came away with a fourth-place result led by All-PacWest First Team graduate student Hasna Kaarour who took second out of 93 runners.

Leading and contending with Dominican's Buay Deng and teammate Moreau for the early portion of the 8k, Hessian found himself in a dogfight by the 20-minute mark. Biola's Gabe Plendcio, Notre Dame de Namur's Anthony Garcia, and Hawaii Pacific's Rickus Jacobs all assumed the top three positions at that point and, down the stretch, Hessian would move in front of Garcia for third overall, crossing the finish line with a new 8k lifetime-best of 25:01.9.

Perhaps one of the biggest moves came from Houali who was 13th five minutes in, still outside the top 10 with 20 minutes complete, then six places up by the finish at fifth overall with his own lifetime-best 25:12.0 mark. Consistent positioning throughout had Moreau come through at sixth overall with a time of 25:16.7 while freshman Hudson Lockette's best collegiate performance saw him dramatically pass seven others over the final five minutes for a 22nd–place result and lifetime-best 26:03.5. Redshirt freshman Logan Briner also ran his best race of the year, going 26:53.2 for 36th overall to round out the ART U qualifiers.

As a team, Academy of Art (71) was second behind champion Biola (46), but a considerable margin ahead of third-place NDNU (96). Plendcio (24:43.8) represented Biola with the individual title as well.

"The men took their shot at a very good Biola team and came up a little short," said head coach Steve Fuelling. "I'm happy with how they competed and how they embraced that challenge. Freddie and Hudson showed poise and toughness throughout the race."
 

In third place at the first checkpoint roughly five and a half minutes into the 6k race, Kaarour found herself battling a collection of three Azusa Pacific runners down the stretch. She would split a pair in the end, finishing second overall with a new lifetime-best of 22:04.1 (a mark that edged her time as the UCSD Triton Classic champion).

The highest freshman to finish, Audrey Rosencrans crossed the line at 11th overall sporting a final time of 22:48.0. Rosencrans earned All-PacWest Second Team honors as a result and senior Giulia McIsaac picked up her third straight All-PacWest Team selection, taking 18th overall at 23:01.5. In one of the biggest moves of the day, senior Ashley Brown, who sat in 35th overall with roughly six minutes left, moved past 10 others over that stretch to earn a 25th-place finish with her fastest time of the season (23:30.1). Redshirt senior Chandler Johnson also made a late push, clocking in at 24:11.2 for 42nd overall.

The ART U women's team (93) slotted into fourth between third-place Biola (83) and fifth-place Fresno Pacific (151) while the battle for first was truly historic. A tie-breaker between Point Loma (38) and Azusa Pacific (38) was settled by the Sea Lions' victories in three of the five battles in team-versus-team place competition though Eileen Stressling (21:14.8) of APU placed first overall.

"The women packed up better than they have all season," said Fuelling. "Audrey and Ashley had their best races of the season and we'll expect the same from them in two weeks."
 

Academy of Art will now look ahead to NCAA West Regionals on Saturday, Nov. 17 at Amend Park in Billings, Mont.