The Biola men’s cross country team placed sixth out of 13 teams with 137 points
at the Asics/University of California Irvine Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 10, while Cal State San Marcos took the top spot with 66 points.

“It was definitely what I expected,” senior Brian Aukshunas said. “We definitely have room for improvement, but our team time was two minutes faster than at last year’s first 8K race.”

He attributed the team’s success to working hard and logging in a lot of summer miles and workouts.

The Eagles ran well, both as a team and individually. The team brought in a total time of 2:10:27.00, and an average runner time of 26:05.40. Senior Collin Christensen came in seventh overall of 148 runners and had the fastest time on the team for this race, coming in at 25:26.8. Freshman Kevin Horchler came in 23rd place with a time of 25:55.8. Sophomore Danny Ledesma placed 34th at a time of 26:13.3, and Aukshunas placed 39th at 26:17.2.

High hopes for the rest of the season

This was one of the fastest team times the Eagles have ever had. The team is in high spirits over Saturday’s race and is hopeful for the rest of the season.

“God really blessed this race … this was a great start, so we are all really exited about what is ahead,” Horchler said.

Horchler says that he is proud of his team for coming out strong against some “really great teams” as well as the focus and patience they displayed throughout the race.
Other Eagles placing in this race were freshman Andrew Daedler in 50th place with 26:33.9, junior Spencer Lyle in 58th place with a time of 26:48.6, sophomore Scott Weir came in 99th with 27:46.2, sophomore Kyle Norman placed 106th with 28:12.1 and junior Joseph Harabedian placed 120th with a time of 28:20.9.

Upcoming invitational

Next Wednesday the Eagles will be running in the San Diego State Aztec Invitational. They plan on going out there and running with a positive attitude.

“We plan to do well with the way we have been training,” Aukshunas said.