Led by sophomore Jaime Canterbury, the NAIA’s No. 19-ranked Azusa Pacific soared to a second-place finish in the open division of the Aztec Invitational staged at Balboa Park, and in the process edged GSAC rival and No. 18 Point Loma Nazarene. The Cougars tallied 94 points to beat Point Loma, which finished third with 103. The Cal Coast Track Club won the open division race with 30 points.
Canterbury led all Cougars with a fine time of 19:18 over the challenging 5K course. Though not a PR for Canterbury, the time 2 weeks ahead of her pace from last year. Yet just as significant as Canterbury’s performance was the effort turned in by fellow sophomore Jenny Landis, who finished 33rd overall with a personal-best run of 20:39, and in the process gave Azusa Pacific a 5-runner gap of just 1 minute and 21 seconds, a sharp 35-second improvement over the Cougars’ season-opening effort 2 weeks at Carbon Canyon Park.
“Closing the gap like that is a huge boost of confident for us,” said Azusa Pacific coach Preston Grey.
In between Canterbury and Landis, Cougars Whitney Jacobsmeyer, Olivia Richert, and Kjersti Housman recorded times of 19:34, 19:55 and 20:26, respectively.
“The ladies ran very, very well on a difficult course,” said Grey added. “We came in with the goal of beating Point Loma, so we have to be pleased with our effort.”
In the process of the Cougars’ performance, Azusa Pacific also finished ahead of GSAC rivals Vanguard, Biola and San Diego Christian.
In the men’s competition, Azusa Pacific’s Aron Rono won his second straight race as a Cougar in as many attempts. Rono posted a 57-second victory over his nearest competitor, Cal State Fullerton’s Jordan Horn, and with it recorded a 24:47, the third fastest time in the Aztec Invitational’s 61-year history.
The Cougars, who are ranked No. 11 in the latest NAIA Coaches Poll, finished fourth in the invitational division with 113 points, knocking off such teams as Loyola Marymount, Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge. Long Beach State won the event with 54 points and No. 8-ranked Cal State San Marcos was second with 90 points.
Freshman Caleb Mesa put in another yeoman-like run, finishing ninth with a 26:35 on the difficult 8K course. Senior Christian Snyder recorded the surprise run of the day for Azusa Pacific, finishing as the third Cougar with a 27:05, while sophomore John Pfiel clocked a 27:28.
The Cougars’ overall score took a spill, literally. All-GSAC performer Caleb Lynch fell twice going down a hill early in the race and nearly pulled out. Typically the Cougars’ No. 3 runner, Lynch finished 79th overall with a 28:42, more than a minute behind the slowest race he had ever run at Azusa Pacifc.
“Caleb’s falls were unfortunate,” said Grey, “but even without them we still need to get tighter among our pack. We have to pick it up at the No. 4 and 5 runners. Aaron and Caleb were super today.”
In the men’s open division, Azusa Pacific had an opportunity to run several of its reserve competitors. First-year runner Chris Roberts led the second set of Cougars with a 28:41.
