LONG BEACH, Calif. -- A huge weekend result for Vanguard women's cross country translated to a sweep of the Pacific West Conference weekly awards today.  VU was chosen as the Team of the Week, and runner Ella Murray was named the Runner of the Week.  These are the first weekly awards for VU women's cross country in the PacWest.
 
The Lions ended sixth as a team at The Master's Invite and finished as the top Division II team out of the 20 teams in the event.  The Blue and Gold were only one point behind the hosting Mustangs (ranked third in the NAIA) with 130 points, and the squad had a total time of 1:55:15.7 on a challenging course.  While the program has not attended the event every year, it is the best finish for VU at the TMU Invite since the 2019 edition when the Lions finished sixth.
 
A big part of the team result was due to the depth of Vanguard lineup and the race run by Murray, who finished fifth in 22:03.9.  She was three seconds behind fourth place and was the top DII runner in the field, trailing one runner from LMU, two from the University of Hawaii, and the winner, Suzie Johnson of TMU.  Murray placed seventh at the VU Invite at the beginning of the month and now has her first collegiate top-five finish.