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Westmont Men’s and Women’s Cross Country made several headlines on Saturday, when they competed in the Golden State Athletic Conference Championships. While the sixth-ranked men and the 10th-ranked women each took second-place overall, the Warriors left the meet with a GSAC Champion, a Freshman of the Year, and several All-GSAC athletes.
As a team, the women took second-place behind The Master’s, as the Warriors had a team score of 43 compared to the Mustang’s 18. On the men’s side, Westmont came in behind The Master’s with a score of 52, compared to the Mustang’s 24.
“Second-place was about what we expected,” noted Westmont head coach Russell Smelley. “We knew we had a chance to win if The Master’s ran a regular race, but they ran really well today. Respect to them. Our women ran well, Zola ran a fantastic race, and overall we had a solid day.”
Westmont’s women raced first on Saturday, and leading the way once again for the Warriors was standout freshman Annie West. On this occasion, West led the Warriors with a fifth-place finish and a time of 19:46.4, earning the freshman All-GSAC honors in her debut season.
What West did not find out until reaching the podium later on, was that as the first freshman to cross the finish line, she had earned the title of GSAC Freshman of the Year.
“I am super happy with how today went,” expressed a proud West. “I’m proud of my team today as well, for finishing the day in second. Personally, I went out a little too fast. I was really eager, but I’m still really happy with everything.”
“Annie did a really great job,” added Smelley. “She was tough and hung in there that entire race. In hindsight, she probably went out too hard, but she didn’t give in as she was fatigued. She kept going hard.”
Joining West on the podium was the remainder of the women’s All-GSAC runners- Madden Hundley, Landon Torres, and Kari Anema. Hundely and Torres came in as the sixth and seventh-place runners, right behind West, who was in fifth.
Hundely posted a season-best time of 19:49.3, while Torres came in with a mark of 19:51.2. Anema, who came in with a time of 20:08.0, earned All-GSAC honors with a 10th-place finish.
Abigail Hundley rounded out Westmont’s top-five with a 15th place finish, just one shy of an All-GSAC honor, after she posted a time of 20:20.3.
West and Torres earned All-GSAC honors for the first time, while Anema and the 2020 All-American Hundley earned the honor for the second time in their careers.
“This is the best team performance they’ve had all year,” said Coach Lindsey Connolly. “I feel like each race I keep saying that, and that just shows what kind of team they are. This team just keeps improving as they go along, and it was a great overall effort today.”
For the men, 12-time NAIA All-American Zola Sokhela once again added to his historic resume. Last season, in Santa Clarita, The Master’s’ Davis Boggess took home the individual GSAC crown with a time of 24:41.9. This year, Boggess shaved nearly a full minute off his time to finish today’s race in 23:54.6.
However, while last season Sokhela took second place with a time of 25:00.8, this season he trimmed 75 seconds off his Championship race time. With a career-best mark of 23:45.6, Sokhela was crowned the individual GSAC Champion in 2022.
“Honestly, I had no plan,” admitted the first-place finisher. “Having no plan in an 8K is often part of the plan, because no one is going to win the race in the first mile. Knowing I had the speed, I let the other guys dictate the race from the start.
“Honestly, I only really ‘ran’ the last 600 meters of the race after sitting back so much. They kept looking back to see when I was going to make the move, and when I did, it was very decisive. It was surreal running down that final stretch. It was pretty cool realizing that as a track guy, I just won the GSAC Cross Country Championship.”
“Zola really focused up a couple weeks ago, and it almost seems like he hasn’t said a word for two weeks,” shared Smelley. “He’s been determined to do this and it was a nice accomplishment for him.”
Joining Sokhela on the All-GSAC team was Danny Rubin, who came in sixth-place with a time of 24:53.0, and Garrett Miller, who finished in 11th with a time of 25:22.8. Miller, in his final GSAC Championship race, made the All-GSAC team for the third consecutive season, while Rubin, also a senior, made the team for the second consecutive season.
Rounding out the top-five for the Warriors was Adam King, who came in 19th with a time of 25:50.4, and Jack Vanden Heuvel, who finished in 22nd with a mark of 26:08.8.
The Warriors will now await official word on their berth into the NAIA National Championships. With both the men and women ranked in the NAIA’s top-10, the Warriors are hopeful they will be competing in Tallahassee, Florida on November 18.
Jacob Norling is the sports information assistant at Westmont College.
email: sports@newspress.com
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