Biola men’s and women’s cross country kicked off their second NCAA Division ll season with a strong showing at the Biola Invitational in Fullerton, Calif. on Saturday. The men’s team grabbed their first win of the season while the women placed third in the event.

Junior Gabe Plendcio led the way for the Eagles in the men’s 8k race. He finished in second place with a time of 25:29.45 a few seconds behind Michael Oldach of Westmont College who finished with a 25:25.80 mark.

A few spots behind Plendcio, three Eagles claimed the last few finishes of the top 10, one after the other. Freshman Brady DeHaven finished sixth in 25:49.11, followed by sophomore Angel Escobar who finished in seventh with a time of 25:58.45, and sophomore Giovanni Orellana placed eighth with a mark of 26:03.15.

Overall, the Eagles won the team competition with 28 points, leaving Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in second with 49 points.

The women’s 5k proved much faster and more difficult for Biola. Two Eagles finished in the top 10 of the race, led by sophomore Mackenna Mason who placed third overall with a mark of 18:33.01. She came just shy of Point Loma Nazarene University’s Hannah Benoit-Bucher who won the event by a time of 18:10.58. Freshman Clara Haynes claimed the other top 10 spot for the Eagles by finishing seventh with a time of 18:52.93.

Senior Emily Ransom placed 12th with a time of 19:01.06 while junior Amanda Reyes placed 15th in 19:13.40. The Eagles finished third in the team standings with an overall score of 55 points and PLNU grabbed the win with 40 points.

The next meet for men’s and women’s cross country will be at the San Francisco State University Invitational in San Francisco, Calif. on Sept. 21 at 3:30 p.m.