 |  |
CBU wins Hawaiian Airlines PacWest Women’s XC title; Dixie State’s Young earns solo crown
GOODYEAR, AZ – California Baptist captured its
first Pacific West Conference title in school history by claiming
the 2011 Hawaiian Airlines PacWest Women’s Cross Country
Championship on Saturday, Oct. 29, in Goodyear, AZ.
Individually, Dixie State junior Rachel Young (Holliday, UT/Olympus) – who didn’t run cross country in high school and who competed in only one collegiate race prior to the 2011 season – stormed to victory with a time of 17:52.3 on the 5K course that wound through Estrella Mountain Regional Park.
In addition to winning the race, Young was named All-PacWest First Team for finishing in the Top 7 of the championship event, and she was selected by the league’s coaches in a post-race vote as the PacWest Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Year.
The Top 7 runners to cross the finish line during the PacWest
Championship are named All-PacWest First Team. Runners finishing
8-14 are named to the Second Team.
The Lancers claimed the team victory by placing its first five runners in the Top 8 and six of its entries in the Top 10 – with all six runners earning All-PacWest accolades.
California Baptist recorded 30 points, followed by runner-up BYU-Hawaii with 48, and third-place Grand Canyon with 101. Hawai‘i Pacific (117), Dixie State (141), Chaminade (173) and Academy of Art (180) finished fourth through seventh, respectively, while Hawai‘i Hilo (203) edged Dominican (203) on a tie-breaker for eighth place. Notre Dame de Namur (263) wound up 10th.
CBU saw sophomore Ashlee Cervantes (Beaumont, CA/Beaumont), junior Lynnea Sjoerdsma (Colorado Springs, CO/Doherty), junior Malaysia Alexander (Corona, CA/Corona), senior Jacquie Lutz (Palmer, AK/Palmer) and freshman Bethany Bilton (Murrieta, CA/Murrieta Valley) place fourth through eighth respectively. Cervantes (18:30.7), Sjoerdsma (18:44.7), Alexander (18:48.5) and Lutz (19:02.0) were named to the First Team, while Bilton (19:03.1) earned Second Team honors. Sophomore Naomi Van Setten (Fontana, CA/Bloomington) posted a time of 19:09.6 to finish 10th and also earn Second Team honors for the Lancers.
Cervantes was named the PacWest Newcomer of the
Year for her outstanding race. The annual award is
presented to a sophomore, junior or senior competing in the PacWest
for the first time who posts the best finish at the conference
championship.
Bilton captured the PacWest Freshman of the Year award for recording the highest finish at the PacWest Championship among all rookie runners.
BYU-Hawaii head coach Norman Kaluhiokalani was named the PacWest Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in voting by the head coaches. He saw four of his runners – senior Lacey Krout (Preston, ID/Preston), senior Katherine Buxton (Gettysburg, PA/Gettysburg), junior Kassie McGonical (Eden, UT/Weber) and junior Kelsey Royer (Lancaster, CA/Quartz Hill) earn All-PacWest honors for their performance on Saturday morning.
Krout (18:18.2) and Buxton (18:25.1) took First Team honors after
finishing second and third, respectively, while McGonical (19:17.3)
and Royer (19:19.6) were 12th and 14th, respectively, and claimed
Second Team awards.
Academy of Art junior Kristen Sanzari (Santa Rosa, CA/Maria Carillo) finished ninth with a time of 19:06.1 to pick up a Second Team certificate, and Chaminade sophomore Emily Ochsner (Camarillo, CA/Camarillo) also grabbed Second Team accolades for taking 11th in a mark if 19:15.0. Grand Canyon junior Megan Young (Glendale, AZ/Glendale) was a Second Team choice after finishing 13th overall in a time of 19:18.8.
2011 PacWest Women’s XC Awards
PacWest Champion: California Baptist
PacWest Individual Champion: Rachel Young, Dixie State
PacWest Runner of the Year: Rachel Young, Dixie State
PacWest Newcomer of the Year: Ashlee Cervantes, California
Baptist
PacWest Freshman of the Year: Bethany Bilton, California
Baptist
PacWest Coach of the Year: Norman Kaluhiokalani, BYU-Hawaii
All-PacWest First Team (1-7)
1. Rachel Young, Dixie State
2. Lacey Krout, BYU-Hawaii
3. Katherine Buxton, BYU-Hawaii
4. Ashlee Cervantes, California Baptist
5. Lynnea Sjoerdsma, California Baptist
6. Malaysia Alexander, California Baptist
7. Jacquie Lutz, California Baptist
All PacWest Second Team (8-14)
8. Bethany Bilton, California Baptist
9. Kristen Sanzari, Academy of Art
10. Naomi Van Setten, California Baptist
11. Emily Ochsner, Chaminade
12. Kassondra McGonegal, BYU-Hawaii
13. Megan Young, Grand Canyon
14. Kelsey Royer, BYU-Hawaii
