The Biola Eagles’ cross country season has officially started, as the men’s and women’s team ran in their first races at the Biola Invitational in Fullerton, CA. Both teams performed admirably, finishing third place out of 11 teams for the men and third out of 13 for the women.

The event only had one race for each gender, with the men competing in the 8k as the first event of the day, followed by the women’s 5k.

The men’s team featured eight athletes, three of which are new to the team. A group of three Eagles, composed of sophomore Ryan Thompson, freshman Gabe Plendcio and transfer junior Miles Brubacher, led the Biola effort most of the race. Thompson went on to the best Biola finish of the day, coming in ninth overall with a time of 24:51. Plendcio finished in 12th at 24:58, and Brubacher came right behind in 13th with a time of 24:59.

The men’s team finished third behind California Baptist University, a school that Biola will soon join in the PacWest conference of the NCAA Div II. The Eagles had the best finish of any NAIA school, beating out fourth place Westmont College by three points. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College won the event with 35 points.

The women’s team took to the course a little later in the day, but had similar results as the men. Senior Lyndee Dawson had the best overall finish for both the men or the women, as she came in fourth with a time of 17:06. Junior Hannah Hunsaker joined Dawson in the top ten, coming in ninth at 17:18. Sophomore Emily Ransom rounded out the top three Biola runners, finishing in 17:24, good enough for 12th place.

Cal Baptist took first for the women, followed Point Loma Nazarene University, yet another NCAA Div II school Biola will join next year.

Biola’s next meet is on Saturday Sept. 17 at the UC Riverside Invitational. The first race of the day starts at 8:05 a.m.