With a 7:30 a.m. start on UCR’s 5k Farm Course, Canales checked in with the best 5k time of her career as she weaved through the orchards and up and down the hills with 216 other runners. Beating her previous personal record of 20:16, set last year at the GSAC meet in Fresno, Canales turned in a 19:00 minute effort, finishing fourth for the Lions and 112th overall. Her time was 1:37 seconds faster than her 2008 results on the same course and helped her Lion team set a new school record for a 5k team time.

Lowering the school record for the 5k team time from 2006’s 1:34:25 at the Region II Championships at Fresno’s Woodward Park to a time of 1:33:32, the Lions were the fourth-fastest NAIA team in the Women’s 5k Invite, following only Azusa Pacific, CSU San Marcos, and Biola (all ranked in the top four of this week’s NAIA rankings). Banking the success of the season on a tight cluster of finishes among Vanguard’s first five runners, the Vanguard women’s performance on Saturday was impressive enough to lift them into this week’s NAIA top 25 rankings.

The Lions debuted this week at No. 21, and, according to VU Coach Bryan Wilkins, a lot of the reason was because of the finish by Canales. "Emily was the difference maker for the women, improving her 5k time an incredible 1:37 from last year’s effort at Riverside," said Wilkins. "In both her first two races this season she has stepped up to a whole new level. She is competing with great confidence and will play a major role in our women’s national qualifying hopes."

As a team, six of VU’s seven women set new PR’s on the course and the team finished 17th out of 27 teams. VU’s Lion of the Week’s next goal will be to break the 19-minute mark at Vanguard’s next meet, the VU Invitational on October 10th. Go Lions!