The Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) Sea Lions women’s cross country team placed 17th in a field of 32 teams in the National Athletic Interscholastic Association (NAIA) meet Nov. 21 in Vancouver, Wash. “We’ve been very fortunate this year to have both a young and a good team,” said PLNU cross country coach Jerry Arvin. The Sea Lions arrived at their seventh straight Nationals appearance with an inexperienced team — five freshmen, one sophomore and one junior. The event was a 5k competition and involved 32 teams and approximately 300 to 350 participants. San Diego County rival Cal State San Marcos won the team event with 137 points, followed by Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) rival Biola (140), Malone (Ohio) with 163 points, Simon Fraser (195) and GSAC rival Azusa Pacific, which finished with 199 points. The young PLNU runners had to adjust to a muddy track and rainy conditions of the Pacific Northwest. Individually, the Sea Lions were without their top runner, Katie Kunz (All-GSAC honors in 2008), because of injury. PLNU’s top three runners on Saturday were freshmen Breelan Matanga, Gina Erbacci and Ashley Szabo. Matanga placed 60th overall with a time of (19:27), Erbacci was 86th (19:45) and Szabo finished 101st (19:53). Sophomore Genieva Ozuna finished with a time of 20:25, freshman Cat Saylor with a time of 20:48, juniors Jennifer Reynolds in 20:58 and Bailey Massenburg with a time of 21:30. The women’s roster included nine freshmen, five sophomores, three juniors and one senior. But it was the freshmen who carried the team throughout the year as Kunz struggled for most of the year with a foot injury. Erbacci was PLNU’s top runner in five of the seven races this year and the freshmen finished at or near the top in every race. In the first race this year at UCSD, the Sea Lions’ top six runners were freshmen. At the Aztec Invitational, then at Willimette (Salem, Ore.) and then at Vanguard, the top three runners were freshmen. Kunz had her strongest finish in the fifth race at Biola. It was the freshmen and Kunz again in the GSAC Tournament, with Matranga finishing first for PLNU, followed by Erbacci and Kunz. Matrange and Erbacci each earned All-GSAC honors. Arvin, in his 16th season as head coach of both the men’s and women’s cross country teams at Point Loma, admitted to being pleasantly surprised by the performance of the women this year. “We typically have more seniors on the team and we’ll get a few freshmen,” Arvin said, “but this year we had a whole group of them come in. It has been a learning experience for them. But they adjusted very quickly to college life. Overall it is a strong group.”