2022 NCAA D2 Pre-Nationals Results

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – In its final competition before the Pacific West Conference Championships, Academy of Art cross country joined nearly 60 other teams in getting an early look at the site of NCAA Division II Nationals with NCAA D2 Pre-Nationals hosted by Seattle Pacific out at Chambers Creek Regional Park on Saturday morning. Leading the 16th place women's team for the second consecutive race, redshirt senior Audrey Rosencrans powered a top 30 finish with the ninth-fastest 6k time in program history while the men were one spot back in 17th, paced by graduate student Sebastian Rivera Del Hierro inside the top tier of a race that featured more than 200 competitors.

For the second time this season, ART U's top finisher was Rivera Del Hierro who could be found just inside the top 100 at the race's first 8k split before moving up seven spots by the second. He would finish at 89th overall (77th among runners counting toward their respective team scores) in the field of 217 with a time of 25:37.4. Just behind him was senior Hudson Lockette who only got better as the 8k race progressed. The Illustration major opened at 114th by the first split then made a huge jump up to 100th approaching the final stretch and ultimately finished 92nd across the line (79 toward the team score), sporting a 25:40.2 mark.

Not far from the Urban Knights' top two, freshman Conrad Heinemann had worked his way to the mid-90s overall midway through and remained their at the end, taking 97th (84 toward the team score) after clocking in a 25:43.5. Two season-bests were run by Academy of Art's next two finishers to round out the top five as freshman Vaughn Lacour steadily passed the competition en route to a 26:38.1 good for 146th (128 toward the team score) and senior Markus Anderson Deakin added a 27:23.8 time, putting him 172nd (145 toward the team score).

As a team, ART U (513) collectively put forth a 17th place finish out of 27 squads, back of SF State (454) and MSU-Billings (501) while ahead of Cal State East Bay (533) and Saint Martin's (541). A dominant effort was turned in by No. 1 Colorado School of Mines (19) as the Orediggers claimed the top three individual spots and had their top five all among the race's first eight to finish. Dillon Powell led all competitors with a time of 23:19.8.

Rosencrans remained among the top 25 of the 6k race's 223 competitors at the first split and finished strong by passing four others in the final segment toward 30th overall (28 among runners counting toward their respective team scores). Her time of 21:59.7 marked the first sub-22:00 mark in her collegiate career and was ninth in ART U history, second this season only to freshman Lisa Redlinger's 21:48.7 at the UC Riverside Invitational. Sophomore Michaela Andrews delivered a season-best, taking 78th (70 toward the team score) with a 22:55.0 time that bettered her previous top mark by more than 13 seconds.

Completing Academy of Art's top five were sophomore Lina Hanich (23:40.3) in 119th overall (106 toward team score), freshman María Martín (23:47.2) in 125th (111 toward the team score), and junior Delanie Dykes (24:17.2) in 151st (130 toward the team score).

Overall, the Urban Knights (445) finished 16th of 29 teams behind Colorado Mesa (348) and Cal Poly Humboldt (366) while ahead of fellow PacWest member Point Loma (467) and Cal State San Marcos (486). No. 3 Colorado School of Mines (37) made it a sweep of both the men's and women's races as four of their top five were inside the first eight finishers, but Alaska Fairbanks' Naomi Bailey (20:46.10) ended up as the race's individual victor.

Back in the Bay Area, Academy of Art will next serve as host to the PacWest Conference Championships the morning of Nov. 5 at Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline in San Leandro.