Bulldogs’ Aspier qualifies for NCAA D3 regional

The University of Redlands junior Stian Asper finished eighth out of 172 runners in the NCAA Division III West Regional on Saturday to qualify for the national championship finals.

Asper’s time was 25:30.4 for 8,000 meters, well off his personal and school-record run of 24:17.4 set earlier this season. His Bulldog team wound up 10th in a field of 23 teams at the regional.

Asper, a St. Paul, Minn., native, was coming off a third-place finish at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference finals on Nov. 1 and earned first-team all-SCIAC while his team placed fourth in the team scoring.

Redlands put up 256 points, well back of men’s regional champions Pomona-Pitzer (43 points).

David Huggins finished 34th for Redlands in 26:20.0. Max Schaller was 66th in 27:01.0. Mathew Farnsworth was 86 in 27:27.9 and freshman Carlos Arias, formerly of Redlands High, was the fifth scorer for the team with a 92nd place finish in 27:35.5.

The Redlands women finished 17th in a field of 21 teams with Eva Mavey the fastest finisher, in 57th place among a field of 161 runners, timed in 23:55.1 for 6,000 meters. Keira Beyer placed 60th in 24:01.2.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the team title with 33 points.