MEN'S RESULTS | WOMEN'S RESULTS

BREA, Calif. --- Despite searing heat, the Biola University cross country teams ran well in their season-opening meet Saturday at the Cal State Fullerton Invitational at Carbon Canyon Regional Park in Brea.

The Biola women's squad, ranked No. 13 in the preseason NAIA poll, finished fourth in the 12-team field while the men placed seventh out of 16 teams.

Cal State Fullerton took top honors on the women's side, with No. 6 Azusa Pacific finishing third with 95 points. Biola had 111 points, finishing 12 points ahead of No. 2 Concordia (Calif.).

Sophomore Kristin Schmidt paced the Biola women, finishing the 5k race in eighth place with a time of 18:38. Senior Anna Thibodo crossed the line in 19:05, good enough for 19th place in the field of 136 runners.

Rounding out the contingent were freshmen Katie Thede in 28th place (19:17), Kelsey Gasner  finishing in 36th (19:39), Kim Arroues in 43rd (19:51) and Danielle Calhoun in 44th (19:56).

The most impressive part of the women's race was that the Eagles had their top seven runners finish within 77 seconds of each other by the end of the race.

On the men's side, the Eagles could find themselves in the national picture after a strong finish on Saturday. Biola finished just two points behind No. 23 Vanguard and recorded a better team time than the Lions.

Senior Brian Ball continued to lead the Eagles' men's team as he raced to a personal-best time of 25:57 in the 8k race. His time was good enough for fourth place.

Sophomore transfer Ryan Richert finished in 27th place with a time of 27:13 and freshman David Kostelyk finished just behind in 37th place in 27:39.

Rounding out the scoring five for the men were junior Jared Bird in 81st (29:14) and freshman Carter Williams in 87th (29:22).

Biola will next run at the UC Irvine Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 8) at Central Park West in Huntington Beach.