Surging Garcia posts career-best, Berry top finishers at Regionals

CLAREMONT, Calif. – Chapman University cross country runner Paulette Garcia continued her late-season charge and was the Panthers' top finisher at the NCAA Division III West Region Championships in Claremont on Saturday. The sophomore ran the 6-kilometer course in a personal-best time of 26:34.7, shattering her previous best of 27:50.6 in the 6K at Pomona-Pitzer Invitational last month.

Garcia, whose finishing times improved in each of her last four races, was Chapman's fastest woman at the SCIAC Championships in October. She proved that was not a fluke by shaving over a minute off her career-best on Saturday.

On the men's side, freshman Spencer Berry earned 84th place overall at the Regionals with a time of 27:47.8 in the 8 kilometers. Berry was 21 seconds shy of his career best set at UC Irvine in September, but ranked as the Panthers' top finisher in seven of their eight events during the 2011 season.

Another freshman, Chad King, placed 92nd overall with a time of 28:20.6 for Chapman. He was just 3 seconds off his personal best set at Stanford in September.

The Chapman men placed 18th out of 18 teams that scored in the event.

Freshman Lisa Peterkin earned a career-best time of 27:27.0 in the 6K for the Panther women. With only four runners in the event, Chapman did not qualify to place in the standings.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

West Region Championships Results: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/xc/2011-12/files/D3WestRegionals.pdf

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