Sea Lions 17th at NAIA Championship Race
Full results
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Vancouver, WA (11/21) - The Sea Lions wrapped up their season Saturday at the NAIA
National Championship Race in Vancouver, Wash. Finishing 17
th among
32 teams, PLNU tallied 436 points. Cal State San Marcos won the team
event with 137 points, just ahead of Biola (140), Malone (163), Simon Fraser
(195) and Azusa Pacific (199).
Freshman Breelan Matranga finished first for Point Loma,
placing 60
th with a time of 19:27. Matranga said she was happy with
her race, but found some difficulty in the course conditions.
“It was a lot muddier today,” said Matranga. “That made all
of the times slower, but it was a good first [trip to Nationals] for me.”
Fellow freshman Gina Erbacci was 86
th, finishing
in 19:45. Finishing in 101
st, freshman Ashlee Szabo ran in 19:53.
Szabo was followed by sophomore Genieva Ozuna (20:25).
“I’ve never ran in mud like that before,” said Ozuna. “But as
a team, we made the best with what we had, and we finished better than last
year.” The Sea Lions took 24
th place at the national meet in
2008.
Other finishers included freshman Cat Saylor (20:46), junior
Jennifer Reynolds (20:58) and freshman Bailey Massenburg (21:34). Junior Katie
Kunz was not able to compete because of a foot injury.
PLNU Head Coach Jerry Arvin said he was pleased with the race
outcome.
“I think they ran really well,” said Arvin. “Reynolds and
Ozuna did a great job as returners from last year’s national meet, and the
freshman did really well in their first national meet, especially with the
terrible conditions.”
Junior Justyna Mudy of Shorter (Ga.) won the race in 17:30,
followed by Azusa Pacific’s junior Jacky Kipwambok (17:51).
For the third consecutive year, Malone (Ohio) won the men’s
race as a team with just 44 points, followed by Concordia (Neb.) with 166 points
and Southern Oregon with 188.
Finishing first was sophomore Simon Kisorio from Oklahoma
Christian, (24:33). Azusa Pacific’s junior Abednego Magut finished
4
th (24:42).
The 17
th place finish for the women’s team marks
the highest finish in the national meet since 2003, when the team took
12
th
-Katie Browning