BYU-Hawaii overwhelming favorite for PacWest Championship after claiming all 9 first-place votes

TURTLE BAY, HI – BYU-Hawaii claimed all nine first-place votes and has been selected by the coaches of the Pacific West Conference as the favorite to win the 2010 Hawaiian Airlines PacWest Women’s Cross Country Championship.

The PacWest Championship will take place on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 9 a.m. at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu, the same location as the 2008 conference race.

The Seasiders totaled the maximum of 81 points to be the overwhelming choice to win their third straight conference title. Hawai‘i Pacific amassed 68 and is expected to finish second, while Academy of Art posted 61 and is predicted to finish third.

The complete PacWest Championship Race predicted order of finish is as follows:

Team  - Pts. (1st Place Votes)
BYU-Hawaii  -  81 (9)
Hawai‘i Pacific  -  68
Academy of Art  -  61
Grand Canyon  -  49
Hawai‘i Hilo  -  39
Dixie State  -  37
Dominican (CA) -  28
Notre Dame de Namur -  24
Chaminade  - 18

The PacWest also will honor its all-conference team following the 6K race. The top seven individual finishers will earn All-PacWest First Team honors, while those crossing the finish line 8-14 will be considered All-PacWest Second Team.

The PacWest Runner, Coach, Freshman and Newcomer of the Year will be determined as well.

BYU-Hawaii is loaded with returning All-PacWest First Team selections. Junior Lacey (Johnson) Krout (Preston, ID/Preston), sophomore Lacee Kurtz (Milford, OH/Milford) and junior Katherine Buxton (Gettysburg, PA/Gettysburg) all claimed the honors last season and will make it difficult for the rest of the PacWest to unseat the reigning champions.

HPU sophomore Kim Kuhnert (Leverkusen, Germany/Landrat-Lucas Gym), who claimed a Second Team finish last year, is back and will run alongside one of the favorites in junior Frida Aspnaes (Norrkoping, Sweden). The native of Sweden claimed 6 of the 8 PacWest Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week awards doled out by the conference this year.

Academy of Art junior Cassandra Schumacher (Sweet Home, OR/Sweet Home) earned the other two weekly honors and will team up with senior Irinel Zamfir (Suceava, Romania) to form a solid duo for the Urban Knights.

Hawai‘i Hilo junior Kirsten Andrew (Garden Grove, CA/Lutheran) was the top Vulcan runner and earned All-PacWest Second Team honors last season at the conference championship. She is back again this year for a stab at a Top 7 finish.