Academy of Art University Athletics

Leading the way to Academy of Art women's cross country's first Pacific West Conference championship, senior Natalia Novak placed first overall to become the individual winner of the PacWest Championship meet on Oct. 23.

In a 6k race that saw numerous lead changes throughout, Novak reached the first of two splits in fourth and less than a second behind the leader, Biola's Lynette Ruiz. After exchanging the top spot with Ruiz, Novak was still just a fraction of a second back by the second split. Then, over the final 2k, Novak not only grabbed the lead, but eventually crossed the finish line four seconds ahead of Ruiz, taking first of 80 total runners with a time of 22:15.1. Tied for third in program history with her sixth career top 10 finish in just two seasons, Novak became the third individual PacWest champion in program history behind Jenny Bergren's 2012 title and the one graduate student Hasna Kaarour won most recently in 2019.

"I never really thought I would be a PacWest champion in cross country since my distance is more 1500m and 800m," Novak said. "It took a lot of hard work being champion on the track and cross country is a completely different thing so you have to change the training, but it all came together with Coach Bruce [Jackson]."