Eight runners qualify for NCAA West Regionals

To qualify for the West Regionals, runners on Saturday had to run a time of 23 minutes or less for the women in the 5K and 30 minutes or less for the men in the 8K. Last season five Chapman runners competed in the West Regionals which were held at Pomona-Pitzer.

At Biola, the Chapman men's runners finished roughly a minute apart. Freshman D.J. Smithers set the pace for the Panthers, finishing in 70^th place with a time of 28:29.1. Smithers who set a season-best time on Saturday has been the men's top runner at the last three meets. Sophomore Angel Flores finished in 74^th (28:59.1) while sophomore Zac Campbell finished in 75^th (29:04.9) and freshman Kevin Tatlock finished in 82^nd, both with season-best times.

Despite having three runners with season-best times, the Panthers' top finisher was still almost three and a half minutes off the pace set by John Gilbertson of the Masters College who finished in first with a time of 24:54.2. The Masters College had the top three finishers but finished in second to Cal State San Marcos in the team event.

Freshman Elisabeth Mitchell was the Panthers top finisher on the women's side with a season-best time of 21:11.9, in 84^th place. Freshman Kelly Kneis (22:02.6), senior Kirsten Moore (22:17.5) and sophomore Jessie Drews (22:53.9) all had their best 5K times of the season as well. Moore made the most notable improvement, taking nearly a minute off her previous top time.

Jessica Smith of Simon Fraser won the race with a time of 17:39 and Cal State San Marcos won the team event.