The Biola men’s cross country team fell again to rival Azusa Pacific and host Fresno Pacific last Saturday at the GSAC championships in Woodward Park, Fresno. Fresno Pacific placed second in the men’s race but eighth in the women’s bracket, while rival Azusa Pacific again swept the No. 1 spot in GSAC play with the men’s team finishing at 2:06:59, and the women’s team finishing at a time of 1:28:06.
Nevertheless, Biola women’s outstanding 5k race placed them third overall, just overtaking fourth-ranked Concordia by 10 points. The men accomplished their best 8k time of the year, placing them sixth right behind the number five ranked Westmont.
Head coach Jonathon Zimmerman was pleased with his teams’ efforts.
“The men ran their best team time of the season and showed great resolve as they made a great run and just missed a top five finish by 10 points,” he said. “They were very determined to place in the top six today and they showed tremendous courage in meeting that goal. This was a great end of the season race for them.”
The freshmen stole the show for the men’s team. Individually, freshmen David Ricksecker and Robbie Cracknell finished as the top two runners amidst various juniors and seniors. An extraordinary season for Ricksecker ended in 11th overall with a time of 25:59, rightly earning All-GSAC honors. Cracknell grabbed the 39th spot with a noteworthy finishing time of 26:43. The third runner to cross the finish line was junior Kyle McNulty, holding on to a 33rd finish with a 27:28 time. Eagles’ senior Jared Bird summed up his championship day – with a time of 27:48 – which put him just below McNulty. Also, junior Evan Thibodeau placed 38th overall and was clocked at 27:53.
There were three runners from the women’s team who earned All-GSAC honors for their performances. First up was senior Kristin Schmidt, who finished 7th overall but first among her teammates with an impressive run of 17:56. Second, sophomore Katie Thede ended her day in 10th place with a time of 18:11, and finally, freshman Nychele Fischetti closed a one second gap to Thede, gaining her 11th place. Also, freshman Carissa Bowman’s 15th place finish was only a three second gap to that of Fischetti.
“This women’s team was probably the most prepared and ready for this race than any group that I’ve ever brought to [the conference championships],” said Zimmerman. “Today the top three teams all broke the previous GSAC championships team time record and certainly proved that GSAC is the strongest conference in the nation as far as cross country is concerned.”
The Eagles are ranked eighth nationally and hope their top performances will be enough to earn them a spot Saturday, Nov. 22 at 10:30 a.m. in the national championships which will be held at the University of Wisconsin, Parkside in Kenosha, Wis.
