No. 1 Biola women’s cross country team secured the top seven spots at Friday’s opening race at the University of Redlands Invitational. Biola senior Ryan Richert took top honors for the men’s team, finishing first in the 6K men’s race.

The sweep left the women’s team recording the minimum of 15 points.The minimum is a result of the first seven runners all being from Biola.

Richert led the men in their 6K race by maintaining a steady pace ahead of the competition, finishing with a time of 19:11. Richert finished five seconds ahead of his competition.

In the women’s 4500 meter race, senior Kelsey Gasner earned the top spot by leading the women’s team and crossing the finish line at 16:31. Behind Gasner was junior Nychele Fischetti, who came in at 16:57. Following the upper classmen, freshmen Alex Sciarra and Chelsea Janzen secured the third and fourth place spots with 17:14 and 17:21. Junior Carissa Bowman placed fifth with a time of 17:25 and junior Jane Kerner held the sixth spot in 17:43, while freshman Rebecca Asplund grabbed seventh place for the Eagles in 17:53.

The men’s team placed third overall with 82 points, with the help of junior Brian Aukshunas placing tenth in 19:57 and freshman Danny Ledesma placing 17th coming in at 20:10.

The Eagles will be traveling to San Diego, to compete in the San Diego State University Aztec Invitational at Balboa Park on Sept. 18. The women will be competing in the 5K race at 9:00 a.m. and the men in the 8K race at 9:30 a.m.