OAKLAND, Calif. –
Jared Wright battled through an ankle injury to finish eighth overall and lead Dominican
men's cross country to a sixth place finish Saturday morning at the PacWest Championships. Bella Bueno
led the women's cross country team to a 10th place finish at the course at Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline
Park.
Jared Ward rolled his ankle early in the 8k but continued to battle as he outkicked Felix Perrier down the
stretch to finish eighth with a time of 24:51.1.
Jacob Potere had his best finish at the conference
championships as he finished with a time of 25:22.6 to beat out the Eagles' Brady DeHaven by two
seconds to take 16th overall. Both Wright and Potere earned All-PacWest honors for their finishes.
Stefan Mueller was locked in a battle with Luke Poarch of Biola with Mueller making up seven second in
the final 2000 meters to pass Poarch by two seconds for 42nd overall with a time of 26:39.1. Jose Lain-
Straus had a strong start to the race as he outpaced Peter Ramos of Chaminade, but Ramos made up the
difference in the final 2000 meters edging out Lain-Straus by three seconds. Lain-Straus finished 67th
overall with a time of 31:36.8. Cisco Gonzalez was next to cross for the Penguins finishing with a time of
33:32.3 to take 69th with Connor Efstathiu rounding out the team in 71st with a time of 35:51.4.
On the women's side, Bueno was neck in neck with runners from Holy Names, Fresno Pacific and
teammate Mary Jo Gallegos for much of the race, but the freshman dug deep in just her second race to
beat them all to the line. Bueno finished .9 seconds ahead of Courtney Santos of Holy Names to take
62nd with a time of 26:08.0 while Gallegos finished 65th with a time of 26:22.6.
Sienna Fassett and Emma Wuelfing ran in a group together with Fassett finishing in 27:49.1 to place
72nd and Wuelfing behind her in 73rd with a time of 28:00.3 to beat out a pair of runners from
Chaminade. In similar fashion, Sophia Zertuche and Sophia Thoring ran together to close out the
Penguin participants with Zertuche finishing 76th with a time of 28:22.4 and Thoring placing 77th in a
time of 28:30.1.
