2019 PacWest Championships Results

FULLERTON, Calif. – Back at Ted Craig Regional Park on Saturday morning, the Academy of Art cross country teams each delivered finishes among the top three at the Pacific West Conference Championships. Graduate student Hasna Kaarour emerged as the conference champion to lead a runner-up women's team with three All-PacWest Team honorees while the tandem of graduate students James Young and Charlie Messai, two of four All-PacWest Team selections on the men's side, led ART U to third with their respective top 10 finishes.

In lockstep with Point Loma's Zita Molnar at the first split, Kaarour was already well on pace to break her previous 6k record (21:50.8). Molnar would move in front of her briefly down the stretch, but Kaarour was leading by 0.01 at the second split (16:44.0) and ultimately Kaarour pulled away to finish first overall with a new personal record of 21:22.85. She became the second Academy of Art runner to earn the PacWest title following Jenny Bergren's achievement in 2012.

Hoisting All-PacWest Team shirts along with Kaarour were junior Natalia Novak and redshirt sophomore Audrey Rosencrans. Novak never dropped from the top 10, moving up from seventh to an eventual fifth-place finish fifth with her own 6k personal record of 22:07.48. Rosencrans steadily rose from 14th to 10th in the end, improving on her placement from last season and going 22:24.38 across the line.

The fourth of five finishers for ART U, sophomore Jasmine Becker made the most significant jump over the course of the race, starting at 51 then passing nearly 20 other runners to claim 32nd overall at 23:10.78 for her own personal record. Redshirt sophomore Alyssa Winter maintained her position throughout and came through at 23:25.21 in 38th overall.

"Hasna is a competitor and was not going to be denied after finishing second last year," said head coach Steve Fuelling. "Jasmine had a breakthrough race and was a big difference maker today."

As a team, Academy of Art (85) and Biola (85) matched scores, but the tiebreaker of head-to-head wins put ART U as the official runner-up finisher behind the championship Fresno Pacific team (62) which had all five of its qualifiers within the top 20. The Urban Knights' second-place finish matched the best in program history which came in 2017.

"The women raced as a unit and fed off of each other throughout 6,000 meters," said Fuelling. "They embraced the championship atmosphere and are starting to realize how good they can be."

For the men, Young and Messai each ascended multiple spots in the second half of the race. Young's steady progression up went from 17th to 15th to 12th to finally sixth with his fastest time at Academy of Art (25:39.01). In 11th to begin, Messai had passed one competitor at the third split then two more by the fourth before taking seventh individually with a time of 25:41.22.

Rounding out the qualifiers for the men, sophomore Hudson Lockette clocked in at 26:02.19 for 12th after his six-spot kick over the final stretch and sophomore Markus Anderson Deakin stepped across the finish line at 26:09.35 for 14th overall and All-PacWest Team honors. At 27:38.69, redshirt senior Joshua Browne took 44th overall.

The team scores had Academy of Art (79) in third back of Notre Dame de Namur (75) and repeat champion Biola (21) who had all five of its qualifiers within the top 10. For the second consecutive year, Biola's Gabe Plendcio won the individual crown, separating himself midway through toward a final time of 25:09.71.

"I'm proud of the men and their progress as a whole," said Fuelling. "Their fitness is only going to improve as we get towards the end of the season."

The Urban Knights' postseason run next takes them to NCAA West Regionals which are set to take place on Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Ore.