As routine as it may look, this particular sweep was instead rather surprising.
As expected, the NAIA’s No. 3-ranked Cougar men handled the 10-team field with systematic ease, winning its third consecutive GSAC title by a hefty 24 points over No. 9-ranked Concordia, beating the Eagles, 42-64.
However, the women’s championship run, their fourth consecutive GSAC crown and fifth in the past 11 years, was rather astounding, and it came by the narrowest of margins. The No. 8-ranked Cougars upset the NAIA’s No. 5-ranked Concordia, 66-68. Concordia placed 7 runners in the top 30 out of the 96 competitors who ran the 5K race. However, it was Azusa Pacific’s unparallelled accomplishment to put 4 athletes in the top 15 that ultimately proved to be the difference.
For the third straight year Brianna Carstensen won the GSAC individual women’s title with a time of 18:26, besting Concordia’s Natalie Perkins by 15 seconds. Azusa Pacific sophomore Whitney Jacobsmeyer was third with an 18:49. Senior Marissa Reeber was ninth (19:14), while freshman Olivia Richart was twelfth (19:31). All 4 Cougars earned All-GSAC recognition for their showings.
Freshman Ashley Olsen, who 5 weeks ago wasn’t even on the team, clinched the team victory by finishing 41st with a 21:29.
The Cougar men put 3 runners in the top 10 and all 5 of their scoring competitors earned All-GSAC recognition by finishing among the top 14. Junior Danny Reid paced the Cougars with a 26:21 on the 8K course to finish fourth out of 83 runners for his best GSAC showing ever. As he has all year, fellow junior Kevin Lindsey ran alongside Reid throughout the race and finished fifth (26:26).
After 2 sub-par performances earlier this season, junior Tim Gachago rebounded in time and performed quite well in today’s conference championship meet, finishing eighth with a 26:35. Freshman Caleb Lynch was 11th (26:47) and sophomore Peter Sherman rounded out the All-GSAC efforts by coming in 14th (26:59). The average Cougar time was 26:38 per man, some 17 seconds faster than Concordia’s average pace.
Biola’s Brian Baker was the men’s individual crown with a sizzling 25:28, 37 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Aaron Megazzi of Westmont.
Azusa Pacific takes next week off and then returns to the course on Nov. 6 for the NAIA regional championship meet at Woodward Park in Fresno, Calif.
