2012 Women's Cross Country All-PacWest  Team

Phoenix, AZ -- Following an impressive first place finish at this year's Pacific West Conference Cross Country Championships, senior Jenny Bergren has officially been awarded the title of PacWest Runner of the Year. It was yet another milestone not only in Bergren's accomplished career, but for Academy of Art University Cross Country as well. Bergren would go on to place 6th at the NCAA West Regional Championships one week later, earning the right to compete at the NCAA National Championships later this month. In addition, Arianna Michaels captured the PacWest Freshman of the Year award to cap off a breakout regular season. Both Urban Knights earned All-PacWest First Team honors as well.

The season began in triumphant style with Bergren capturing a PacWest Runner of the Week honor after her 5th at the USF Invitational. That award came in conjunction with selections to the Weekly Fantastic 15 for freshman Arianna Michaels, senior Zoë Meyers  and senior Cassandra Schumacher. She would go on to lead the Urban Knights every step of the way.

Bergren, a transfer from Cal Poly, came through with numerous highlights including five Top 10 finishes (many against top Division I talent) and a lifetime best (17:19.5) at the Bronco Invitational (Oct. 13). She would win the SF State Invitational outright on Sept. 14, take 15th at the Stanford Invitational (Sept. 29), and then claim 7th at Bronco in a race featuring several of the best runners in the West Region. Amid challenging humid weather conditions at the PacWest Championships, Bergren's 1st place finish was a full 21 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher. She followed that up with 21:51.76 time on the 6k course at NCAA Regionals to finish 6th overall and qualify for NCAA Nationals (Nov. 17 in Joplin, MO).

Michaels showed progressive improvement throughout the course of her season. After the USF Invitational 5k race, Michaels would take approximately 30 seconds off her time when the Bronco Open came around (Oct. 13). Her lifetime best of 18:38.7 was good for 14th overall and led the Urban Knights on that occasion.

At PacWest, Michaels made her move after the first mile like Bergren and ended up crossing with a time of 19:08.5. She was the highest finishing freshman from any of the 13 teams competing on the women's side. The Valencia, CA native then produced a 46th place result in her NCAA Regionals debut and was the 11th freshman overall.

Bergren's award is the first PacWest Runner of the Year honor in the history of the Academy of Art University program. Michaels finishes off the first season in her ART U career with the Freshman of the Year honor.

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