 |  |
Academy of Art wins 2009 Hawaiian Airlines PacWest Men's XC
Championship
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Sophomore Amos Maru (Nandi Hills, Kenya) outraced the field by more than 30 seconds to lead Academy of Art University to the 2009 Hawaiian Airlines Pacific West Conference Men's Cross Country Championship.
The 8K race was held at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Saturday morning, Oct. 31, and featured seven PacWest programs vying for the title.
The men's cross country championship is the first for the Urban Knight athletic program in its short history. Academy of Art finished with 20 points, outdistancing runner-up BYU-Hawaii (51) by 31 after pushing all five of its runners into the Top 7.
Last year's champion Hawai‘i Pacific (76) finished third
overall, while Hawai‘i Hilo (97), Notre Dame de Namur (130),
Grand Canyon (133) and Chaminade (177) rounded out the fourth
through seventh positions, respectively.
Maru not only was the individual champion, but he beat out sophomore teammate Daveson Marindich (Eldoret, Kenya) by 31.8 seconds after crossing the finish line in a time of 25:17. Marindich posted a mark of 25:48.8 to take second place.
The AAU performance was so dominating that the Urban Knights claimed five of the seven All-PacWest First Team awards.
The PacWest rewards the top seven individual finishers at the championship with All-PacWest First Team accolades, while those crossing the finish line 8-14 are dubbed All-PacWest Second Team.
In addition to Maru and Marindich claiming First Team
certificates, sophomore Simon Mutai (Nakuru,
Kenya) finished fourth with a time of 26:09.7 and
sophomore Kennedy Kurgat (Kapsabet,
Kenya) grabbed sixth place with a mark of 26:13.8.
Junior Geoffrey Cheruiyot (Nairobi,
Kenya) rounded out the Urban Knights five entries
with a seventh-place time of 26:17.
BYU-Hawaii claimed the other two All-PacWest First Team selections thanks to senior Brendan McMaster (Tempe, AZ/Corona Del Sol) and junior Spencer Deavila (Mesa, AZ/Highland).
McMaster placed third overall with a time of 26:09.2, while Deavila was fifth after crossing the finish line in 26:10.7.
The Seasiders finished the race with four total All-PacWest selections when junior Brandon Krout (Vancouver, WA/Prairie) took 11th with his time of 26:49.9 and sophomore Luke Graesser (Spokane, WA/North Central) collected 10th place with a mark of 26:41.4.
Hawai‘i Pacific and Hawai‘i Hilo each landed two runners in the All-PacWest Second Team column on Saturday morning.
HPU sophomore Dany Malley (Mississaugua, Ontario, Canada/St. Famille Secondary) and senior Kevin Enriques (Honolulu, HI/Education Lab) finished eighth and 13th, respectively.
Malley, who earned 
First Team accolades last season, turned in a time of 26:32.2,
while Enriques repeated as a Second Team selection this year by
posting a mark of 26:54.7.
Vulcan seniors Garrett McAllister (Los Alamitos, CA/Los Alamitos) and Stefano Barbaris Rochabrun (Hilo, HI/Hilo) repeated as All-PacWest runners this year by finishing 12th and ninth, respectively.
McAllister - a First Team member last season - took Second Team honors this year with his time of 26:52.9. Rochabrun repeated as a Second Team selection when he finished with a time of 26:34.2.
Grand Canyon rookie Julio Zungia (Phoenix, AZ/Trevor Browne) recorded a time of 26:55.2 to finish 14th and snare the final All-PacWest Second Team position just ahead of freshman teammate Chris Lewis (Peoria, AZ/Kellis) who was 15th by just 0.05.
