FRESNO, Calif. – The Chaminade University women's and men's cross country teams on Saturday concluded the 2023 season at the Pacific West Conference Championships at Woodward Park.
The Silverswords women finished eighth of the 10 PacWest squads who earned a team score in the 6-kilometer race, earning 242 points.
Maria Steinke (Columbus, Ohio/University of Dayton/Bexley HS) was the first 'Sword to break the tape, finishing the course in 24 minutes, 13.1 seconds, good for 48th overall. Steinke's time was just five seconds off her best 6-k time set at the Hawai'i Hilo Invitational on Sept. 30.
Nikiji Dayse (Memphis, Tenn./Bartlett) was right behind her, finishing 52nd at 24:29.5, setting her new 6-k low finishing time by nearly 20 seconds.
In her final race, senior
Caitlin Bocobo (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) set a new 6-k personal low, crossing the finish line in 25:15.4, beating her previous career low time by 10 seconds, set at last year's PacWest Championships.
Cassie Chong (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) finished the race in 26:57.6 followed by
Leila-Jayne Casison (Waipahu, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Waipahu) at 27:28.4 and
Jordyn Koki (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Kamehameha-Kapalama) in 30:30.2. All three times were personal bests.
For the first time ever, Chaminade finished ahead of both Hawai'i Pacific University and UH Hilo in the championships, giving them the three first-place points in the 2023-24 PacWest Hawai'i Challenge. HPU earned the second place points with two and UH Hilo got one point in the Challenge.
Biola captured the women's title with 40 points while Jodi Paradis of Concordia University Irvine was the ladies' individual champion in 20:51.9.
In the men's 8-k race, Chaminade finished ninth with 251 points.
Mason Stewart (Uniontown, Pa./Uniontown) completed his standout first year as a Silversword, finishing 44th overall in 27:07.8.
Peter Jan Ramos (Waipahu, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Waipahu) was the team's second finisher in his final race, breaking the tape in 30:19.7.
Another senior,
Ben Salinas (Highland, Ind./Western Colorado Univ./Highland HS), recorded a time of 31:50.8, just one second off his 8-k low time of the season.
Kaden Graves (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy) and
Lennon Lindholm (DuBois, Pa./DuBois) rounded out the team with times of 35:59.2 and 36:20.1, respectively.
Azusa Pacific was the men's team winner with 25 points. Biola's Jerry Baltzer was the men's individual medalist in 24:22.2.
