California Baptist University
WAC Outdoor Track Championships
DeVries Brings Home the 10K Title as CBU Opens WAC OTF Championships in Arlington
5/14/2026 8:38:00 PM | Cross Country & Track
ARLINGTON, TX--- The California Baptist University track team opened its final WAC OTF Championships on Thursday evening with 1500 prelims and 10K Finals at Maverick Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The Texas heat and wind were in full force, but that did not stop the Lancers from collecting an Individual Champion, four All-WAC finishers, and eight qualifiers on opening day.
The afternoon opened up with two heats of the women's 1500 prelims. The Lancers would earn four total qualifiers across the two heats, with two runners advancing in each. In the first heat, Helena Mees would pace the first group by finishing in the top four necessary to auto-qualify in third place with a time of 4:40.07. Lamiae Mamouni would finish closely behind her at 4:43.23 to nab the final automatic qualifier from the heat. Sophia Clarkson would just miss a time qualifier, clocking 4:46.94, which would be the sixth-fastest in the heat. In the second heat, Petra Kis and Sarah Schiffman would both auto-qualify by finishing 3-4 in the faster heat, with Kis placing third with a time of 4:35.58. That time was the third-fastest overall of the event, while Schiffman would finish close in fourth.
The men's prelims would go off next, with four Lancers also advancing in the event, all from the same heat. In the first heat, Nicolai Martino would place sixth with a time of 3:56.92, which would be two spots back of a time qualifier in the event. In the second heat, the Lancers would finish 4-7, which would be good enough to qualify for the finals on Saturday. Ernesto Ruiz would be the lone Lancer to get an auto bid in fourth place, while his teammates would finish within one second of him. Finn Anspach, Brett Rushman, and Lorenzo Riba would all earn the at-large spots and join Ruiz in the finals.
The final event of the night would be the finals in both the men's and women's 10K's. The women would begin the final races with Karolina Bliujute, Ana Mees, Eleonara Visnevskyte, and Lindsie Fausett taking to the track for the blue and gold. Bliujute would score for Sean Smith's squad with a sixth-place finish, which would earn her second-team honors. It would be Bliujute's second consecutive All-WAC selection after earning first-team honors last season in Arlington. Mees would also earn second-team honors by nabbing the final spot on the podium in eighth. Visnevskyte would miss the podium by one spot, while Fausett would finish 15th in the heat.
CBU saved the best for last as the Men's 10K would be the final event of the evening. Jude DeVries, Roberto Castro, and Gabriel Guzman would compete in the race as they looked to earn more points. DeVries would do more than score; he would win the individual title with a time of 30:15.33, becoming the program's first 10K Champion since 2022. The win for DeVries was his debut in the event and would be a new personal best by over 30 seconds that he set at the Master's College last season. Castro would get on the podium with first team honors in third place with a time of 30:25.55. Guzman would finish one spot outside of All-WAC honors in ninth.
NEXT: The Lancers will compete in the 800 Prelims and the Steeplechase finals on Friday, May 15, at Maverick Stadium.
