Reigning PacWest Conference Champion Rachel Young, a favorite to repeat this year, finished in 5th place with a time of 18:37.95. Jenny Bengren from Academy of Art dominated the race winning by more than 21 seconds.
For the men, sophomore Rodney Warr (St. George, UT/Dixie) placed 14th as the top finisher for the Red Storm. He crossed in 27:04.90. Talal Khan of Cap Baptist won the race with a time of 25:39.10.
Coach Justin Decker said, "The weather affected all of the teams and times were slower than normal times for all the competitors ."
Overall, it was the best finish in school history by DSC teams at the PacWest Championships. The conference reached its peak this season with the addition of four schools to run the numbers of teams to 14. Cal Baptist ran away with the men's crown, just narrowly defeating BYU-Hawaii and Azusa Pacific edged Cal Baptist for the women's title.
A duo of freshman in Rachel Gutzman (8th plac) and Brianna Decker (Mesa, AZ/Mountain View) finished 12th to help the Red Storm to their best ever finish. Prior to this season, Young was the only runner to ever finish on an all-conference team and this year Young repeats as a 1st team selection and Gutzman and Decker both are members of the 2nd team.
Warr who placed 14th is a 2nd team all-conference selection and Zac Smith (West Jordan, UT/West Jordan) who placed 18th was named to the 3rd team for the men.
Decker concluded, "Having three freshmen on the all-conference teams makes us really excited about the future. It'll be nice spending the week here so that we will be used to the weather for next week's race."
The Red Storm will spend the next week on the islands as they prepare for the upcoming NCAA West Region Championships that are also being hosted by Hawaii Pacfiic. The race will be held next Saturday morning.
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