Women's Results | Men's Results
COSTA MESA, Calif. --- For the third straight race, the Biola women's cross country team took top team honors while the men's team ran perhaps its fastest race in school history, placing fifth overall at the Vanguard Invitational on Saturday morning at Fairview Park.
The Eagle women, ranked No. 9 in the NAIA National Ratings, had four runners place in the top 11, scoring just 37 points to edge out No. 10 Cal State San Marcos' 40 points. Sophomore Kristin Schmidt took top honors in the 5k women's race while freshman Katie Thede ran a great race and placed third overall.
On the men's side, the Eagles were fifth overall with an impressive total time of 2:11:31.10, one of the best times for the top five runners on a true 8k course in school history. Senior Brian Ball placed first overall in the field of 66 runners.
Biola's women, who have had 10 different athletes race in the top seven this season, had its top five runners finish within 69 seconds of each other. Schmidt led the way with her second win of the season, finishing in 18:06. Thede placed third in 18:15 with senior Anna Thibodo just behind her in ninth at 18:38. Freshman Kelsey Gasner placed 11th in 18:52 and freshman Sarah Brooks placed 17th in 19:15 for the women's scoring-five.
Rounding out the Biola squad were Amanda Stephens in 21st (19:26), Connie Andersen in 25th (19:38), Erika Perez in 28th (19:43), Natasha Miller in 32nd (19:56) and Danielle Gomes in 43rd (20:34).
The Biola men's squad continues to improve on the season with an average race time of 26:18 for its top five runners. Ball led the team with a time of 24:53, placing first for the second-straight race. Sophomore Ryan Richert finished in 13th place with a time of 26:09 followed closely by freshman David Kostelyk in 18th with a time of 26:22.
Freshman Kyle McNulty and junior Jared Bird rounded out the scoring five for the Eagles. McNulty placed 30th in 27:02 and Bird took 32nd in 27:05.
The Eagles' other racers were Rob Clarkson (34th – 27:13), Mike Morin (42nd – 27:54), Carter Williams (47th – 28:21) and Kyle Ross (48th – 28:42).
“This was a great race for us,” said Biola Head Coach Jonathan Zimmerman. “It puts us in a good mindset heading into the GSAC championships in two weeks.”
The GSAC championships will be the next action for the Biola cross country teams and will also be run at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa. The race is set for Saturday, Oct. 20, in Costa Mesa.
