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Top Moments Mason Sweeps Distance

#7: Mason Takes Two Distance Titles

Mackenna Mason ran 15,000 competitive meters at NCCAA Championships, winning twice.

June 27, 2019

LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Each day for the last week of June and first Week of July we will count down Biola Athletics' top-10 moments/achievements from the 2018-19 athletic season. This Thursday represents day four of this countdown and will feature the No. 7 moment of the year.

#7: Mackenna Mason Sweeps NCCAA Distance Titles
Mackenna Mason helped lead Biola Women's Cross Country to its first team NCCAA National Championship in the fall, but when it turned to spring and track & field season it was Mason's individual accomplishments that rose to the top.

Mason had one of the most busy championships, running the 10,000m and 5,000m on back-to-back days at the Grace College Track in Winona Lake, Indiana. She was looking to be Biola's second 10k champion in as many years after Crystal Jardines won the title in 2018.

The 10k was the first event and Mason came into the run with a much faster seed time than the rest of the field. She had someone running with her for the first 2,000m or so but then broke away from the pack and ran the rest of the race virtually untouched.

She completed the 10,000m in 39:09.28 to have more than a one-minute gap between herself and the second-place runner, winning her first-ever individual national championship.
 
The sophomore followed that up the very next day by going out and logging another 5,000m. She dominated, once again leading the race wire-to-wire. This time she came out on top with a little less of a buffer - nine seconds.
 
Mason's 5k time of 18:13.37 allowed her to be crowned champion for the second day in a row. She became Biola's first multi-event NCCAA National Champion. Her 20 points helped the Eagles finish fourth out of 22 scoring teams despite only competing limited events with just seven women competing.
 
Honorable Mention: Women's Golf Makes A Run At PacWest Title
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Women's Golf had another fantastic season, beginning with a National Christian College Athletic Association title in the fall and culminating with a strong run at the PacWest Conference title in the spring.

Head Coach Jane Carr's team was within striking distance of the team championship for all three rounds out at The Wigwam Golf Course in Litchfield Park, Arizona. When the tournament came to a close BU finished second behind Academy of Art, averaging a 303 round score over the course of 54 holes. 
 
The second-place finish is a one-spot improvement from the team's 2018 finish of third place. The pair of podium finishes is more impressive considering the Eagles have only been in the league for two years. Biola's first-year average round was 315 - so 2019 marks a massive improvement.

Freshman Sami Penor paced the effort with a three-round tally of 223 (+7) to finish fourth on the tournament leaderboard. She, Jules Loibl, Marcel Manalo and Alexis Gopfert all finished inside of the top-10 to earn a spot on the all-tournament team.
 
Gopfert, Loibl and Penor also earned All-PacWest honors for their accomplishments throughout the season.
 
Next year the PacWest Championship shifts to Waikoloa and the Eagles will have their sights set on an awesome Hawaiian road trip, but also on bringing home the title. The team returns almost the entire roster from 2019.

Top-10 Moments:
10. Men's Basketball Comes Back At Hawaii Hilo
9. Historic Tennis Victories
8. Swim Team Record-Breaking Efforts
7. Mackenna Mason Sweeps NCCAA Distance Titles
6. Friday, June 28
5. Monday, July 1
4. Tuesday, July 2
3. Wednesday, July 3
2. Thursday, July 4
1. Friday, July 5

Honorable Mentions:
Connor Kostecka's Bat Produces Two Walk-Off Hits
Paige Austin Carves Up APU
Ryan Thompson Wins PacWest 10k By An Eyelash
Women's Golf Makes A Run At PacWest Title
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