Running for the first time this season with their top runners in the fold, Azusa Pacific tallied 73 points to finish second behind meet host Stanford which captured the team title with 23 points. Along the way, though, the Cougars beat NCAA Division I members Texas Tech (third with 97 points), San Francisco (sixth with 138), Valparaiso (seventh with 152) and San Jose State (eighth with 185).
“We ran very, very well,” said first-year Cougar distance coach Preston Grey. “This is very encouraging because we’re still not in peak condition and yet we performed quite well. I expect us only to get much stronger as the season continues.”
Only 29 seconds separated Azusa Pacific’s first and fifth runners. For the second time in as many meets this season and for the fifth time in the past 6 competitions dating back to last year, senior Danny Reid paced the Cougars, clocking a 12:31 over the 4K course to finish seventh out of 89 runners. Sophomore Caleb Lynch was tenth with a 12:40. Junior Peter Sherman finished 13th (12:43) while seniors Tim Ramirez and Kevin Lindsey, running for the first time this season, finished 30th (13:01) and 31st (13:02), respectively.
Ramirez and Lindsey, both of whom are track & field All-Americans, sat out the season-opening UC Irvine Invitational 2 weeks ago with slight injuries. For Ramirez, the effort at Stanford was particularly encouraging in light of the fact that he has been battling a foot injury for nearly a year. If he can return to his form of 2 years ago, he’ll bolster Azusa Pacific’s chances of finishing among the top 4 at the NAIA Championship Meet in November.
While the men ran an abnormal short 4K race, the Cougar women, who like the men are ranked No. 11 in the latest NAIA Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, went with the extra distance with an irregular 6K race where they went head-to-head with some of the nation’s best programs on any level. Azusa Pacific finished 20th out of 32 teams but was the top finishing NAIA squad, edging No. 14 Lewis-Clark State.
All-American Whitney Jacobsmeyer led the Cougar contingent by running a 22:53 over 6K to finish 44th out of 222 competitors. Sophomore Janae Chapin put together the best race of her brief Cougar career with a 23:53 to finish 100th, while freshman Jaime Canterbury was 121st with a 24:17.
“This was an excellent test for our women,” said Grey. “We pushed a little harder with the extra distance and showed well against some of the best teams on the west coast. Beating Lewis-Clark State certainly legitimized our ranking in the NAIA poll.”
In a separate women’s short 4K race, freshmen Abi Lillich (16:42) and Jenny Landis (17:27) along with sophomore Ashley Olson (18:17) represented Azusa Pacific.
“From the men to the women, it was a very, very good day for Azusa Pacific,” said Grey.
With no time to rest, Azusa Pacific returns to the courses this week to take on some of the best teams in the Midwest at the Lakeshore Invitational in Chicago, Saturday (Oct. 1).
