ORANGE, Calif. --- It was a historic fall morning at Irvine Regional Park as Biola Women's Cross Country won its fourth Golden State Athletic Conference Championship and first since the 2013 season. The men improved by four spots from last year's finish to place second sandwiched between two top-25 teams.
 
In addition to the phenomenal performance by the women's team Kevin Horcher and Kellian Hunt both won individual conference championships. This is both runners' second career individual championship. Horchler was the 2014 men's champ and Hunt grabbed the title in 2013, which was also her last cross country All-American season.
 
"It was a great day," said Head Coach Sean Henning. "We're thrilled to have good performances on both sides. It is a step in the right direction from where they were at last year."

Biola's women had an insanely fast day as they claimed eight of the top-14 spots to have eight student-athletes claim all-conference honors. The Eagles' team time of 92:11 is the 12^th-fastest in the course history and it came on a morning where the running conditions were less than ideal. The women's top-15 runners all finished ahead of any other team's sixth runner.
 
Both races were run in warm, dry and windy weather that caused a majority of the times to come in a bit slower than anticipated.
 
Hunt won her race by six seconds over last year's champion Karis Frankian. Frankian led Biola's senior champ by two seconds with just a couple hundred meters left in the race, but a hard charge left an easy path to victory for Hunt who finished the 5k in 17:30. Her time is the third fastest in course history.

"This was huge for Kellian," said Henning. "She had a tough year last year after being the champion in 2013. She's worked hard to get back to that No. 1 spot in the conference. Today she had her hands full with a great runner from The Master's, but Kellian just showed some great resolve at the end."
 
Not to be lost in the shuffle is Anika Gasner, who managed to keep pace with Hunt and Frankian through most of the course and came in at 17:58 to finish third overall before a noticeable gap between the top-3 and the rest of the field.
 
After Gasner six more Eagles earned all-conference honors on a morning that left nothing but smiles for the runners in red and white. The following rounded out Biola's top-8 and all earned all-GSAC: Lyndee Dawson (6^th – 18:47), Stephanie Croy (7^th – 18:56), Ilima Kung (9^th – 18:58), Kaitlin Quaid (10^th - 18:59), Kaili Waller (12^th – 19:04) and Hannah Hunsaker (13^th – 19:08). Kaitlin Quaid was the highest finishing freshman in the women's field

"It was a pretty dominating victory for the girls today," said henning.
 
Horchler was cool as a cucumber throughout his race as there was absolutely no touching him as he led from start-to-finish. He ended up gaining a 33-second advantage over the 8k course in finishing with the winning time of 25:07. His time is the seventh best in course history.
 
This is Horchler's second championship in a row and solidifies at least another individual appearance at nationals for the Eagles' lanky leader.
 
The rest of the men's team put out good enough efforts to lead to a great second-place finish and have the team start dreaming about earning a team bid to nationals.

"It's been a long journey fo Kevin so I know he was ecstatic to win, but I know he was more thrilled that the team did great, because I know that was important for him," said Henning. 
 
Freshman Ryan Thompson was especially impressive as he joined Horchler as the only other Eagle to finish with all-conference honors. He was the top freshman finisher in sixth place with his 26:19.
 
Biola's other three scorers were Christian Perez (15^th – 26:50), Shane Brinson (16^th – 26:54) and Wes Noyes (19^th – 27:12).
 
Those times were quick enough to put Biola just 19 points behind the six-time repeat champions The Master's College. The team's performance helped them best the No. 16 team in the country, Westmont, to prove they belong on the national stage.

"For the guys to finish second and beat the No. 16 team in the country was a great step in the right direction," said Henning. "I think we still have a lot of room to grow and get better as a program, but knowing that we can compete for a conference title every year is big."
 
Next up is the 2015 NAIA National Championship meet, which will be held in Charlotte, N.C. Nov. 21.