The Biola Eagles cross country team represented themselves well at The Master’s College Mustang Challenge on Saturday morning with both the men and women placing very high, considering the majority of the competitors were from NCAA Division I schools.

IMPROVING TIME

The women were coming off a first place finish at their first race of the season two weeks prior, and were stood on the podium again this time, finishing third out of the 20 total schools. The men did not place quite as high, getting 12th out of 18 teams.

Many Eagles had excellent performances, especially on the women’s side. Two of Biola’s runners in the 5k, seniors Kellian Hunt and Anika Gasner, finished in the fourth and fifth spots respectively. This is the second race of the season, and the second time both women finished in the top five. Compared to the first race of the season, Hunt improved her time by nearly 39 seconds and Gasner made up almost 25 seconds.

REPRESENTING THE UNDERCLASSMEN

“Going into each race the mindset is for each and every guy to run to the best of their own abilities. We want to compete at every meet no matter who shows up,” said senior Kevin Horchler.

A pair of sophomores and another senior rounded out Biola’s top five finishers. Lyndee Dawson and Stephanie Croy represented the underclassmen well, finishing 23rd and 41st respectively, with each of them also setting a new season personal best. Biola’s fifth finisher was Michelle Clark, who followed in the footsteps of her teammates and also set a new personal season best.

Another big accomplishment by the women’s team was beating out Biola’s Golden State Athletic Conference rival — and race host — The Master’s College Mustangs. The Mustangs had the higher finishing runner of the two schools, as their fastest woman finished in second place. But Biola’s top five finished high enough to claim the third place finish by six points.

FINISHING TOP FIVE

On the men’s side, they also performed extremely well based upon the competition of mainly NCAA Division I schools. Senior Kevin Horchler led the Biola effort over the 8k distance, finishing 34th of the 217 total racers. Following Horchler by only three seconds was freshman Ryan Thompson, who improved his season best by around 30 seconds. Rounding out the remainder of Biola’s top five were two underclassman and a senior, much like the women’s team. Sophomore Timmy Wilson finished the race in 70th and freshman Christian Perez came soon after in 74th, which was the first time for both that they finished in Biola’s top five. Senior Shane Brinson claimed the last spot in Biola’s top five, finishing 85th.

The Eagles’ next race is this Saturday, when they head to the CSU San Bernardino Coyote Invitational.  The first race of the day will be the women’s 5k, which is set to start at 8 a.m.