[Unofficial results]

FRESNO, Calif. - The start of the championship season had everything and more the Point Loma women's cross country team would ever want. It came with high levels of competition, a complete PLNU team running together for the first time this year and quality weather conditions, but most importantly, all these factors resulted in the Sea Lions' first PacWest Cross Country Championship!
 
PLNU's top 5 runners all finished in the top 13 and each one of those places would be critical, because when the dust settled, both unranked Point Loma and No. 12 Azusa Pacific finished with an identical 38 points. However, as coach Arvin has talked about all year, the Sea Lions 'womaned up' against Cougars and earned the tiebreaker and the right to call themselves the 2018 PacWest champions.
 
Hannah Benoit Bucher led the Sea Lions with a fourth place finish on the 6k Woodward Park course in a time of 22:17.9. She ran among the leaders throughout the race en route to earning her third consecutive first team All-PacWest honor. She also locked in four team points for the Sea Lions.
 
Marissa Bartello was right behind Benoit Bucher with a time of 22:20.4. She placed fifth and earned five more team points. It was Marissa's first career first team All-PacWest honor after earning second team awards as a freshman and sophomore. Not far behind, and joining her on the All-PacWest first team was her sister Brianna Bartello. Brianna finished seventh with a time of 22:28.1 to bank seven more points for the Sea Lions.
 
As coach Arvin waited with three runners across the finish line he saw the third runner for Azusa Pacific finish, he knew it would be coming down to the wire. Cassidy Towner finished next for PLNU with a time of 22:30.8 to place ninth and edge out the next finisher for APU by one spot.
 
With four runners each in the bank, PLNU trailed Azusa Pacific 25-22. It was now just a question whether the fifth scorer for PLNU could create enough separation from APU to finish three spots ahead. Newcomer Zita Molnar accepted that challenge. She passed multiple people down the stretch to place 13th with a time of 22:51.6.
 
With 38 points banked, PLNU held its breath that Azusa Pacific would not make a push in the final stretch to retake the lead. The fifth runner for APU made a strong effort, even moving up three spots late, to place 16th and complete the scoring, but it was not enough for the Cougars to pass the Sea Lions.
 
When the unofficial score came out it initially looked like APU had edged PLNU by one point, but after everyone had finished and the results were double-checked, both teams finished deadlocked with 38 points. It was then time to turn to the tiebreaker to determine the 2018 PacWest Championship. APU's first and second runners finished ahead of PLNU's first two runners, however the next three runners for Point Loma all placed higher than Azusa Pacific's giving the Sea Lions the edge in the tiebreaker 3-2.
 
Words from coach Arvin
On his team: "We had been running a 70-90 second gap between our No. 1 and our No. 5 runner all year, and today it was just 33 seconds. It has been a goal the past few years to get that to 30 seconds. We did a lot of good things today."
 
More on the Sea Lions: "Everyone ran very well today. I was impressed with every one of them. We were not at our absolute best but we badly wanted to win this race. Azusa Pacific also wanted to win badly and it showed in the way everyone raced today."
 
On his team waiting during the tiebreaker: "The women didn't know if we won or not and I wasn't going to say anything to them until they declared a winner. The women were nervous the whole time because they really wanted to celebrate."
 
On the seniors: "They were so happy. Hannah, Josie, the twins and Cassidy did everything they could. We rode the coattails of our seniors and they did an incredible job today."
 
On Jordan Sienkiewicz: "For her first race back in over a year she ran amazingly. She was an inspiration to our team."
 
On the win: "It was exciting to know what we were capable of going into the race and watching them execute. They had to earn it. We passed multiple people down the stretch to earn this win. It wasn't that APU had to catch us, we had to catch them, and we did."
 
On winning his first cross country conference title: "In all these years of coaching to finally win a conference title is very exciting. It is going to be a very nice flight home."
 
On the next race (regionals): "Our performance today bodes very well for us going into regionals. Azusa Pacific is one of the top teams in the region and we were right there with them. The West Region is going to be a bloodbath."
 
Top 5 teams
1. Point Loma (38)*
2. Azusa Pacific (38)
3. Biola (83)
4. Academy of Art (93)
5. Fresno Pacific (151)
* tiebreaker
 
Top 5 PLNU Individuals
4th - Hannah Benoit Bucher (22:17.9)
5th - Marissa Bartello (22:20.4)
7th - Brianna Bartello (22:28.1)
9th - Cassidy Towner (22:30.8)
13th - Zita Molnar (22:51.6)
 
News and notes
> All five scoring runners for Point Loma earned All-PacWest honors. To see the complete 2018 All-PacWest Cross Country team, click here
> The 38 points by APU is the lowest score for a second-place team since the Sea Lions joined the PacWest Championships in 2012
> Hannah Benoit Bucher is the first Sea Lion to earn three first team All-PacWest honors
> In six races this year, Benoit Bucher never finished below 11th
> Marissa Bartello, Brianna Bartello and Hannah Benoit Bucher join Alex Hernandez as the only Sea Lions to ever earn three All-PacWest honors in cross country
> The Sea Lions previous best finish at the PacWest Championships was second in 2016
> This win breaks California Baptist's streak of four consecutive PacWest Championships
> The Cross Country team is just the second PLNU team to win a PacWest Championship joining the women's soccer team (2014, 2015, 2018)
 
Next meet
The Point Loma women's cross country team will take a week off from competition to prepare for the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 17 in Billings, Mont.