The Westmont men’s and women’s cross country teams each finished in third place at the Golden State Athletic Conference cross country championships on Saturday Irvine Park.
The men tallied 80 points to finish 10 points behind second place Vanguard and 15 points behind first place The Master’s. Arizona Christian came in fourth with 82 points and Biola finished fifth with 85. Concordia was the sixth place finisher with 103 points. San Diego Christian took seventh with 218.
Westmont’s Matt Day was the third overall finisher, completing the 8,000 meter course in a time of 25:30. The race was won by John Gilbertson of The Master’s who posted a time of 24:22. Ricky Avila of Concordia placed second, finishing in 25:17.
Day, along with Westmont’s Jake Jeanson who finished in 11th place with a time of 26:34, received All-GSAC honors as a result of today’s performance. Day also earned a place in the NAIA National Championship as an individual runner.
In the Women’s 5,000 meter race, No. 8 Westmont finished with 71 points, 13 points behind Concordia who took second. Biola won the race with 45 points and claimed the GSAC’s automatic bid to the national championship.
Concordia who is ranked at No. 16, may move ahead of Westmont in the rankings as a result of today’s race. That could put Westmont’s hopes of a team at-large berth into the national tournament in jeopardy. The final cross country rankings will be released tomorrow with the release of team and individual qualifiers announced on Wednesday, November 7.
Westmont edged out #13 The Master’s by just one point, giving the Mustangs a fourth place finish. Vanguard took fifth place with 136 points, Arizona Christian sixth with 165 and San Diego Christian seventh with 190.
The race was won by Rocio Pelayo of Concordia in a time of 17:53. Westmont’s top finisher was Jessica Meyers who crossed the line seventh in a time of 18:31. Amber Collier claimed eleventh place in a time of 18:51, making both Meyers and Collier All-GSAC honorees.
Even if the Warriors are not awarded an at-large berth to the National Championship as a team, Meyers has qualified for an individual berth.
