The Master’s University women’s cross-country head coach Zach Schroeder made it clear from day one that he believed Arianna Ghiorso (pictured above) was a special athlete. The kind that doesn’t come around all that often, even in a program annually listed among the NAIA’s top 25.

Saturday, teams from up and down the West Coast got an up-close look at exactly what Schroeder was talking about, as Ghiorso put the Golden State Athletic Conference on notice ahead of next month’s conference championships in Santa Clarita.

The freshman ran a personal best 17 minutes, 58.2 seconds to finish fourth overall at the Warrior Invitational in Rocklin, Calif. She was the first GSAC runner, and first runner not from NAIA No. 4 Oregon Tech, to finish in a field that also included No. 10 Southern Oregon.

“She ran very aggressively from the gun, going straight to the lead of the pack,” Schroeder said. “The race went out very hard, but Arianna was able to hang on for a fantastic finish.”

It was a showing that started in practice (“She’s been training unbelievably well,” Schroeder said) and one that very well may be a stepping-stone toward an All-American finish to 2018.

First, though, comes the GSAC Championships at Central Park in Santa Clarita on Nov. 3.

“We’re super excited to see how she finishes at our conference championship,” Schroeder said.