The Westmont men’s and women’s cross country teams qualified for the NAIA National Championships after each finished in second place at the Golden State Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday in Santa Clarita.

Both teams will be going to the nationals championships together for the first time since 2016.

“We’re very excited that the team can finally be back at nationals together,” said Westmont coach Lindsey Connolly. “That was a goal from the start of the season to get both whole teams back to that point and our guys have worked hard to make that a reality.”

The Warriors finished behind The Master’s, who have now won 12 consecutive conference championships on the men’s side, and back-to-back titles on the women’s side.

Westmont’s Zola Sokhela came in second place in a time of 25:00.8 over the 8k course. Davis Boggess of The Master’s won the event for the second consecutive season after breaking the course record with a time of 24:41.0.

“Today was a good performance, and obviously I would have liked to win as any other athlete would have, but I felt today showed the work I’ve been putting in has really helped,” said Sokhela.

Garrett Miller came in seventh in 25:36.7, followed by Daniel Rubin and Adam King in 10th and 11th  in 25:45.5 and 25:58.6, respectively.

Rounding out the top-five for Westmont was Jason Peterson, who completed the race in 26:24.4, good enough for a 17th place.

Sokhela, Miller, Rubin, and King were named to the All-GSAC team following the race, which is an honor given to the top-14 finishers.

On the women’s side, the Warriors placed second with 55 points, compared to Master’s 38. Four of Masters’ runners finished in the top 10, while Westmont had two.

Anneline Breytenbach came in a second place in the 5k  race in 17:43.1, which was eight seconds behind conference champion Hannah Fredericks of Master’s.

The next Warrior to cross the finish line was Kari Anema in fifth place in 18:07.0. The final three Warriors who rounded out of the top-five all came in consecutively in 15th, 16th, and 17th place.

Landon Torres completed the race in 18:49.5, followed by Madden Hundley (18:55.7), and Abigail Hundley (18:58.1.)

The NAIA National Championships will take place in Vancouver, WA. on Nov 20.