By Beth Renkoski

10/24/09

Lions Face Their Foes at the Biola Invitational

Orange, Calif – Irvine Regional Park – The Vanguard Lions competed at the Biola Invitational this morning at the Irvine Regional Park for the second year in a row. Running against a highly competitive field featuring ten ranked teams between the men’s and women’s races, the Vanguard Lions had a solid showing with the No. 20-ranked VU women finishing sixth and the No. 24-ranked VU men placing fifth in their respective events.

"This was the most competitive NAIA meet we’ve ever run in in our 22-year history," commented VU head coach Bryan Wilkins, "with the top four teams in the nation competing in the women’s race. Our men ran a slightly faster time than last year, but wound up fifth overall. Last year our men won this meet, so that’s an indication of how much more competitive the race was this year."

The Vanguard women, the sixth-highest ranked team in the women’s 5k, posted a solid team time of 1:35.17 which was four minutes faster than VU’s time at the Biola Invite last year. With the top-four ranked teams (APU, CSUSM, BU, SFU) in the nation taking the first four places in the women’s standings, the Lion women came within 11 points of beating No. 15-ranked Point Loma. Sophomore Megan Williams led the Lion pack with an 11th-place finish and a time of 18:15, twenty seconds faster than her BU Invite time in 2008. Freshman Araceli Zainos and sophomore Chelsea Van Cott finished just two seconds apart (19:03 and 19:05), placing 32nd and 34th overall and second and third for the Lions. Van Cott topped her 2008 time by 23 seconds, while VU’s fourth runner, Emily Canales, lowered her 2008 time by over one minute. Canales was clocked at 19:12, placing 38th overall. Freshman Jazmine Reyes was VU’s final scoring runner crossing the finish line in 44th-place with a time of 19:42, followed by VU’s last two runners freshman Lauren Minnick (20:42, 64th) and sophomore Olya Zamucen (22:30, 94th).

Vanguard finished sixth as a team with 155 points among nine teams in the women’s 5k.

On the men’s side, the Lions also faced a surprisingly competitive field with No. 8 Cal State San Marcos, and 17th-ranked Simon Fraser and Westmont College finishing 1st, 2nd and 4th, respectively. Unranked Cal Baptist pulled off the surprise of the day, placing third and beating No. 20 Vanguard as well. The Lions tallied 112 points, just three points behind Westmont and 12 points behind CBU.

Led by junior Christian de Glymes, who finished seventh overall with an outstanding time of 25:32, the Lions had all seven runners healthy enough to compete for the first time all season. Sophomore Matt Johnson posted his second-best time of the season at 25:54, coming in 16th overall, while senior Mike Hartanov finished third for VU and 23rd among the 112-man field with a time of 26:21. Freshman Fernando Orozco set a new personal record today, shaving off 15 seconds from last week, clocking in at 26:32 for 28th place and fourth for the Lions. Nick St. Andre was Vanguard’s final scoring runner with a new personal best time (26:56, 39th place), followed by Chris Ponce (27:34, 54th) and Chad Smith (27:54, 63rd), who ran his first race of the season.

Vanguard results are posted below or use the links below for complete meet results and thanks for following the Vanguard Lions!

Complete Women's 5k Results

Complete Men's 8k Results