Despite a difficult course on Saturday at the Vanguard invitational, Biola women’s and men’s teams had one of the best meets of the season at Fairview Park.

Competing against the toughest teams in the NAIA as well as Division II Cal Sate San Marcos, Biola women finished fourth out of 11 teams, right behind Concordia and Azusa Pacific, while the men rounded out their day in eighth place out of 10 teams.

Junior Kristin Schmidt completed her well paced run eighth overall for the Eagles with a time of 18:07, putting her first among her teammates. Other notable times were freshman Nychele Fischetti with 18:34, sophomore Kelsey Gasner finishing 18:56 and sophomore Katie Thede at 18:57.

Women’s strong performance sets them at a good position to finish up next week’s meet in Irvine. Also, to be ready for November’s GSAC championships in Woodward Park, Fresno.

The men’s top five runners were freshman Robbie Cracknell with a time of 26:51, freshman David Ricksecker finishing at 27:08, junior Kyle McNulty and sophomore Rob Clarkson both at 28:05 and junior Evan Thibodeau at 28:08.

“It was great to see Robbie and the rest of the men’s squad getting a feel for the GSAC competition,” said Biola head coach Jonathan Zimmerman. “They showed a lot of courage today and really pushed themselves to the limit. Our 1-5 gap time of 77 seconds is a season best and I know this is directly related to the team culture that we have developed.”

The momentum of Saturday’s meet will help the Eagles continue their success when they host this Saturday’s invitational at Irvine Regional Park in Orange at 8:30 a.m. Biola is currently ranked third in the GSAC.