Biola’s cross country teams returned home from Hawaii with both the Men’s and Women’s PacWest Championship titles. The women’s team brought home the championship title for the fourth year in a row and the men’s team was victorious for the fourth time in their program’s history.
DEFENDING THE CROWN
The women’s team won the title with a score of 42 points on the 6K course, which was a remarkable 27 points ahead of the runner up, Point Loma University.
Adding to the victorious trip was senior health allied major, Bethany Mapes, who secured the women’s individual championship with a time of 21:40.6, beating the closest competitor by 5.8 seconds. Coach Sean Henning explained the hard work that went into Mapes’ win, describing her as someone who “leads by example”. He believes that her humble nature, strategy, and influence on the team makes her an exemplary player.
Maples said, “Being able to win the individual title is a really sweet gift, it is something I have been aiming to get for the past 3 years. Getting to see it come together in the race and be able to accomplish that goal is really rewarding and I feel very grateful.”
She has achieved All PacWest honors four times, but this is her first individual championship title. Yet she was not alone in achieving a top score, as Biola had three runners place in the top 10 of the competition. Sophomore biological science major Jaina Kang finished 6th with a time of 21:58.1 and MBA graduate student Maddie Ebright came in 8th with a time of 21.59.5.
Mapes, Kang and Ebright all achieved first team All PacWest honors. Junior kinesiology Hailey Wurzbach achieved second team honors, while freshman psychology major Claire Lesiw and freshman CMA major Elizabeth Kurtz were featured in the third team.
BACK ON TOP
This exciting win was the 4th time in the program’s history where the men’s team brought the title back to La Mirada; the first since 2022. The men’s team ran the 8K course and pulled off a win with a total of 35 points, beating the closest competitors by 18 points. The men’s team had three runners finish in the top 10 of the competition.
Psychology major Melt Von Melondorff won the individual championship with a time of 24:33.6. He has previously achieved All PacWest honors but this is his first individual title. Von Melondorff shared that, “For me the individual title means a lot, it was something I had my eyes on for a while and wanted to win it so I could be part of that group of gents that has won it before me. I fell short last year, but I’m grateful that I could reclaim that award for us this year.”
Along with Von Melondorff finishing in first place, the men’s team had two other runners who finished in the top 10. Freshman kinesiology major Grant Miller finished 4th with a time of 25:04.5 and freshman kinesiology major Marcin Stanglewicz finished in 6th with a time of 25:09.8.
LOOKING AHEAD
The PacWest title is more than a trophy; it is a reflection of the hours of training and preparation that these athletes have put in. Each runner’s commitment can be shown in their time demonstrating how much they wanted the win at each competition.
On Nov. 8th, both teams will head to Oregon for the NCAA West Regionals. While that can be a weight to carry after just winning the PacWest titles, Mapes explained:
“This victory, individually and as a team, is rewarding and encouraging. We have put in a lot of hard work and will continue that in preparation for regionals. This victory is not where we want to end our season and we have big goals ahead.”
