2021 All-PacWest Teams
IRVINE, Calif. – Following up a historical run to their first Pacific West Conference Championship in program history, Academy of Art women's cross country collected a plethora of awards as announced on Thursday. Senior
Natalia Novak, the individual champion at the PacWest meet on
Oct. 23, was named PacWest Runner of the Year in addition to All-PacWest First Team while Interim Head Coach
Bruce Jackson was voted PacWest Coach of the Year by his conference colleagues. For their respective finishes all among the top 19 in the championship meet, graduate student
Hasna Kaarour, sophomore
Delanie Dykes, redshirt junior
Audrey Rosencrans, and freshman
Lina Hanich were each among the All-PacWest Team honorees.
At the helm of the Urban Knights' first PacWest Championship in the history of the ART U women's program, Jackson guided Academy of Art to multiple national rankings during the season including
No. 28 nationally and
No. 4 among the NCAA Division II West Region most recently. Highlighting a team that finished within the top four in three of four meets thus far, ART U also had one
USTFCCCA NCAA DII National Athlete of the Week in Novak and one
PacWest Runner of the Week in Kaarour.
En route to becoming the third PacWest Individual Champion in program history, Novak led Academy of Art in two of four races which included a third place finish at the SF State Invitational on
Sept. 10. Her 6k personal record and the sixth-fastest in ART U history (21:49.1) came the following month at the Sacramento State Invitational on
Oct. 1. The Communications & Media Technologies major shined once again at the PacWest Championship, taking the lead over the final 2k and besting the next closest competitor by four seconds with a 22:15.1 mark. She would also enter a tie for third in program history with her sixth career top 10 finish in just two seasons.
Running alongside Novak and eventual runner-up Lynette Ruiz of Biola, Kaarour secured third place by nearly five full seconds at 22:31.5. The Landscape Architecture major's second-fastest time of the season helped her secure her seventh career top 10 finish to earn sole possession of second in ART U history.
Dykes crossed the finish line in seventh overall after steadily rising from ninth across the 6k. She turned in her second-fastest time of the year at 23:00.1.
Rosencrans started among the top 10 at the first split and, though she dropped to 14th by the second, a strong finish put her 12th overall with a 23:20.7 mark.
Passing seven other runners over the race's final 2k, Hanich impressively claimed 19th overall, sporting a time of 24:01.0 across the line. She joined her teammates as each provided critical placements toward a team championship that was determined by a single point.
This is the first PacWest Runner of the Year honor in Novak's career (third in program history) and her second career All-PacWest First Team selection. Kaarour also garnered the second All-PacWest First Team honor of her career, Rosencrans' All-PacWest Third Team award was the first for her following two previous Second Team selections, and both Dykes and Hanich received their respective first All-PacWest First and Third Team honors.
