ORANGE, Calif. – It was a record-breaking start to the season for the Chapman University cross country teams. Gavin White set a new school record to lead the men's team while Brenda Daza opened the 2025 season with a top-10 finish.

White's first 8k of 2025 finished in exactly 25:00 to set a new school record and pace a strong effort from the Panthers' squad. He took 20th overall in a meet that featured Chapman as the only NCAA Division III team. Devin Sharp made his Chapman debut with a huge performance that lowered his personal-best by two minutes, placing him 31st with a time of 25:24.

The Panthers had more solid debuts from the freshmen as Vincent Pecoraro finished a personal-best time of 26:17 and Shay Rodriguez also posted a personal-best of 26:42. The returners also impressed as Alejandro Aguirre-Ramirez lowered his best by over one minute with a 25:36 and Lorenzo Collier beat his best by five seconds with a 26:17.

After finishing the spring as the 2025 SCIAC champion in the 10k, Daza continued to show improvement with a seventh-place finish. Her time of 21:19 was a new personal-best and was just shy of the school record in the 6k.

Another pair of freshmen made impressive debuts as Valerie Noria and Jane Song were next to finish for the Panthers. Noria finished in 24th at 22:34 while Song wasn't far behind in 34th at 22:52. Both etched their respective places in the Chapman top-10 in their first collegiate race.

Natalie Brazfield and Lily Fosmire rounded out the scoring for Chapman with Brazfield finishing  with a PR of 23:02.

Distance coach Mircea Bogdan expressed his satisfaction with the season-opener, "Both of our teams put in a great effort in today's races with a lot of personal-bests and quality performances. It really shows the dedication and work ethic that had taken place throughout the summer."

Chapman will look to continue improving throughout the season and into its next race on Sep. 27 at the UC Riverside Invitational.