California Baptist University
NCAA West Region Prelims
Soca Makes More History with NCAA Qualifying 5K Finish
5/30/2025 6:49:00 PM | Cross Country & Track
COLLEGE STATION, TX--- The California Baptist University track team earned their first NCAA National qualifier on Friday evening as Valentin Soca did so in the Men's 5K with an impressive performance.
The day for the Lancers began with the Men's 3000M Steeplechase as Ernesto Ruiz would compete in the first heat of the three-heat event. Ruiz would finish 14th in his heat and 38th overall with a time of 9:15.36, falling short of the top 12 position required to qualify for Nationals. Despite missing the cut, Ruiz finished a terrific first season with CBU recording three of the top 8 times in program history in the steeplechase. Ruiz was the first Lancer in the DI-era to qualify for regionals in the men's steeplechase and had a personal best time of 8:49.45 at the Franson Last Chance Invite.
The Men's 5K would conclude the day for the Lancers in dramatic fashion as both Soca and Daniel Abdala were competing for national qualifiers. Soca came in ranked third in the event in the NCAA and the West Region and had a good chance of advancing. Soca would shatter those expectations by strolling to a second-place finish in his heat and overall while also shattering the facility record along with the top-place finisher Matt Strangio of Portland by 26 seconds. Soca's time of 13:26.58 gave him an automatic qualifier for Nationals and would be the second fastest time of his career. Consequently, the time would also be the second fastest time in program history, only behind the time Soca set this season at the Bryan Clay Invitational, which was the 7th fastest in NCAA history. On top of all that, Soca would have the second fastest time of either region, besting the top place finisher in the East region by ten seconds. This will be the second straight season Soca has qualified for Nationals after doing so in the 10K last season. Soca is now the first male Lancer to earn multiple national bids and the second athlete in program history to do so, joining Greta Karinauskaite.
Abdala would finish his career with an 18th-place finish in his heat and a 33rd overall finish at 14:02.46. Abdala was the lone Lancer to qualify for multiple events at West Regionals this season, as he also competed in the 10K on Wednesday evening. Abdala set new personal bests across the board for the Lancers in his graduate season, doing so in the 10K, 5K, and 1500M. Abdala was a second-team All-conference finisher in the 1500M and will finish third in the program record books in the 5K (13:37.25) and 10K (28:22.62).
NEXT: Ava Dyck will finish the weekend for the Lancers as she competes in the Women's 5K on Saturday, May 31, at 8:10 PM PT.
Players Mentioned
