CROSS COUNTRY LOOKING TO TAKE NEXT STEP IN 2025

(SAN DIEGO) Year two of the Jake Poyner era is set to begin on Saturday, with PLNU Women’s Cross Country looking to build off a successful 2024 season.

Last year was a resounding success for the Sea Lions, with Point Loma finishing third at the PacWest Championships and seventh at the NCAA West Regional, its best finishes at both meets since 2018.

“We were able to establish the culture we wanted and set the standards,” said Poyner, Director of Cross Country and Track & Field. “Now we’re protecting it. That's the daily endeavor with the team, having built relationships with the returners and then recruiting to that culture and those standards has been really helpful.”

Looking forward to this season, Poyner specifically highlighted the depth of the group, which returns its entire top-8 from last season’s conference meet and added some talented newcomers.

“We have lot deeper roster size and we’re at a place where we feel happy about the size of the team,” Poyner said. “We've raised the bar with our cross country specific athleticism, running IQ and desire to be competitive.

“The desire to be a better runner and the passion to compete at a high level is contagious. Once enough of them buy into that being what they want to be about, it becomes contagious. That's what we're excited about the most.”

PLNU spent a portion of its training camp in Big Bear, helping the group come together and discuss its goals for the upcoming season.

“With the quantity of newcomers we brought in, it feels like a brand-new team regardless of whether it’s your first semester at Point Loma or your last, so that's been fun just to see the relationships and to see them bonding,” Poyner said. “Going to Big Bear helped with laying the groundwork.

“We talked a lot about how everyone wants to be a part of the outcome, but we're really interested in who wants to be a part of the process. The people who are involved in the process are the ones who will be a part of the outcome. We’ve seen a lot of that in camp, a lot of people who just love the process, love learning and love being involved.”

Entering the new season, Point Loma is ranked No. 6 in the USTFCCCA Preseason West Region rankings and was picked to finish second in the PacWest Preseason Poll, as the Sea Lions look to take the next step in 2025.

“This year we’re talking less about finishing above a preseason ranking and more about actually having the firepower to say, ‘On our day we could win a conference title,’” Poyner said. “Then being able to strategically from a tactical standpoint look at that with the ladies on the team.

“It's been fun to talk the next step about what it takes to win a championship. We feel like we have the depth to do that. I think being ranked sixth in the preseason regional rankings is probably fair and accurate. There’s just a lot of unknowns with this team that are exciting, but we're hopeful we can surpass that. We feel like we're a lot closer to the top-3 than some people think.”

ROSTER

Point Loma returns all three of its All-PacWest runners from a season ago, led by Maddie Reeves, the program record holder in the 6K who led the team with her third-place finish at last year’s PacWest Championships.

“Maddie Reeves is at the top returning from a breakout track season and last fall she had a breakout cross country season as well, setting school records and qualifying for DII Track & Field nationals in the 10K,” Poyner said. “If you can embrace the 10K, a 6K on the grass feels easier – it's all in your perspective and your mentality.

“We're excited about her. She was sick at the West Regional last fall, so we feel like unless she's sick again this fall we're expecting her to vie for an individual qualifying spot at nationals as well and we think she's ready for that.”

Fellow seniors and All-PacWest honorees Zaila Smith and Elizabeth Satterlee also return. Smith, along with Reeves, earned All-Region honors last year.

“Zaila Smith and Elizabeth Satterlee have looked great in training, and we're really excited about them,” Poyner said. “At this stage for them being seniors, they can get out there and realize that they understand it a little bit more than they did last season or the season before. Having experienced runners in the top-5 is important.”

After joining the Track & Field team in January, graduate transfer Lia-Luisa Markert is competing for PLNU Women’s Cross Country for the first time.

“This will be Lia’s first cross country season for us and she's looking great,” Poyner said. “She's in great shape and she's a fantastic leader for the team.”

Bree Gentry (23rd), Mia Rodriguez (40th), Mikayla Horning (42nd) and Eliana Perks (43rd) also return after finishing in the team’s top-7 at the PacWest Championships.

“We have a plethora of freshmen that we feel like are going to do really well right away, but we have some returners that we really feel can make some big jumps compared to where they were at last year,” Poyner said. “We have a lot of depth, so I do really expect probably our four through seven to change from meet to meet. It will never look the same and that's really what you want.

“Jocelyn Gibson and Audrey Buckley are two freshmen that we feel like were brought here to contribute right away and we feel pretty good about that.”

In total, PLNU has a roster of 22 runners with 12 returners and 10 newcomers, including eight freshmen.

“We’re proud of the upperclassmen already for their leadership and we're excited for the newcomers,” Poyner said. “We feel like it's an exciting time to be a part of Point Loma Cross Country and Track & Field.

“Our hope and prayer is that they go all in, don't worry about the fear of failure or coming up short, and give it their best shot. Usually, the reward in those moments is not what they get for it but who they become because of it. That’s something we preach to them often but is always good to remember and be reminded of.”

SCHEDULE

Point Loma opens its season on Saturday at the Cougar Challenge, hosted by Cal State San Marcos. The 6K race is set to begin at 8:30 a.m.

PLNU will race twice in Riverside at the Riverside Invite (Sep. 27) and Highlander Invite (Oct. 18), with the Manny Bautista Invite (Oct. 10) and Lewis Crossover Challenge (Oct. 11) in-between.

“The reason we're going to Chicago is because it's a Division II regional crossover and it's putting teams in positions to earn their keep so to speak, to be able to simulate something somewhat similar to a national preview as far as what the Division II field of 25 to 30 teams looks like,” Poyner said. “Then also to really compete against each other, so we will have lots of teams looking at us and we'll have plenty of teams that we're looking at as far as who we would like to be and come out on top against.”

The PacWest Championships are scheduled for Oct. 25 at the Hawai’i Country Club in Waipahu, Oahu, with the NCAA West Regional (Nov. 8) and NCAA Championships (Nov. 22) hopefully to follow.

“Our training is tailored towards peaking at the end of October and beginning of November,” Poyner said. “There’s a three-week window where there's race week, then a week in between and race week for conference and regionals where everything we're doing from a workout standpoint is building towards those points.”

For the team’s full schedule, click HERE.