California Baptist University
NCAA Division II West Regional
CBU Flies through Regionals
11/4/2017 6:12:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Cross Country, Cross Country & Track
MONMOUTH, Ore. — No. 6-ranked California Baptist University is headed for nationals in two weeks, after running a resilient race at the NCAA Division II West Regional Saturday morning, hosted by Western Oregon University.
"We gave a talented No. 4-ranked Chico State team a run for their money," said Coach Ben Gall."We made it close until the end and I loved our effort."
For the first time this season, CBU ran a 10K this year instead of the normal 8K races, and that seemed to favor the Lancers. They finished with 84 team points to take second overall at the Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Ore., behind the fourth-ranked Wildcats. CBU needed a top-three performance to secure a trip to the NCAA Division II Championship Meet in Evansville, Ind., on Nov. 18, and now has given itself a fourth opportunity to compete for an D-II championship.
Just like he has done in his first first three performances of the season, PacWest Runner and Freshman of the Year McMarshall Hartzenburg led the Lancers and finished third overall out of 188 total runners. The freshman crossed the finish line in 29 minutes, 59.09 seconds, earning his first All-West Region honor.
"McMarshall has been big for us all year," added Gall. "The two guys who finished in front of him today are some really accomplished runners, so this was huge for his confidence."
Simon Bedard followed with a time of 30:21.6, securing a top-10 finish at ninth overall, while fellow junior Pierre-Louis Detourbe came sprinting behind Bedard, taking 11th by clocking in at 30:23.9. Both Bedard and Detourbe joined Hartzenburg in earning All-West Region honors with their respected top-25 finishes.
Dennis Mesmer and Michael Lowrie rounded out the five scoring Lancers with respective times of 31:02.5 (28th) and 31:06.8 (39th). While he didn't score, Jayden Emerson took 41st overall with a time of 31:21.3 to displace scoring runners for other teams. Micro Zenzen rounded out the runners for the Lancers, crossing the finish in 31:45.2.
"Dennis ran the best race of his career today," said Gall. "He ran hard until the end and it was just a great team performance we had today."
CBU heads to the NCAA Division II Championship in two weeks and for the second time in program history, both men's and women's teams will look to bring in their first ever national championship.
"It's just a fun group we have here," said Gall. "We've had fun all year and we're just looking forward to putting it all together at nationals."
Results
Players Mentioned
