The Biola Eagles cross country team had another successful outing at their second meet of the season at The Master’s College Mustang Challenge. The first meet two weeks ago saw the women’s team take home first place, and the men bringing home a fifth place. The women were unable to replicate the victory this time, but still ended up on the podium in third place out of the 20 teams present.

The women’s team had two runners finish in the top five of the 5k run, seniors Kellian Hunt and Anika Gasner. Hunt crossed the finish line in fourth place with a time of 17:30.58, and Gasner claimed the fifth place spot with a 17:32.53. This is the second consecutive race that both women have finished in the top five, as Gasner took third and Hunt took fourth at the first race of the season.

Other notable Eagles were junior Lyndee Dawson, sophomore Stephanie Croy and senior Michelle Clark, who all finished within the top 50 runners to round out Biola’s top five runners. This is the first time for all three to represent Biola’s top five, but all three also got within the top 50 runners in the first meet.

Another notable feat for the women’s team is that they beat out their Golden State Athletic Conference rivals, The Master’s College Mustangs, by six points.

The men did not do quite as well as the women did, finishing 12th out of the 18 teams represented. But the result is still impressive considering the opposition consisted of mostly NCAA Division I schools.

Leading Biola’s efforts was senior Kevin Horchler who finished the 8k distance in 34th with a time of 26:18.40. He was followed closely by freshman Ryan Thompson who finished with a 26:21.38. The Eagle’s top five also contained sophomore Timmy Wilson, freshman Christian Pere and senior Shane Brinson.

The cross country team has a week to prepare for their next meet, when they will head to San Bernardino for the CSU San Bernardino Coyote Invitational. Events will start on Saturday Sept. 26 at 8 a.m. with the women’s 5k.