Women's Results | Men's Results

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- Biola University's women's cross country team took top honors and the men finished third while sophomore Kristin Schmidt and senior Brian Ball each won their respective races at the Westmont Invitational Saturday on the Westmont campus in Santa Barbara.

The Eagle women, who are ranked No. 8 in the latest NAIA National Poll, placed all 10 of their runners in the top 26 out of 79 runners in the field. Biola finished with 33 points followed by Fresno Pacific with 45 and host Westmont with 61. It was the second meet win in a row for the Eagles.

On the men's side, the order was reversed with the Warriors taking top honors with 32 points followed by Fresno Pacific with 42 and Biola with 54.

Schmidt ran a stellar time of 18:59 and led from start to finish and won by seven seconds. She was followed closely by freshman Katie Thede, who finished fifth in 19:33.

Three other Eagles placed in the top 10 for the Biola women. They were senior Amanda Stephens in eighth place with a time of 20:06, freshman Kelsey Gasner in ninth in 20:12 and freshman Sarah Brooks.

Rounding out the Eagle's squad were freshman Erika Perez in 14th (20:42), Kim Arroues in 18th (20:58), Connie Anderson in 21st (21:08), Danielle Simpson in 25th (21:28) and Danielle Gomes in 26th (21:44).

For the Biola men, Ball had little trouble winning the 8k race, crossing the line in 26:01–a good 22 seconds ahead of the pack.

Sophomore transfer Ryan Richert placed eighth and finished with a time of 27:25 and was followed by freshman David Kostelyk who was 13th in 28:08.

Junior Jared Bird placed 20th with a time of 28:33 and Kyle McNulty took 21st in 28:36 to round out the scoring for the Eagles.

Biola takes a bit of a break but will return to action on Saturday, October 6, for the Vanguard University Invitational at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa. The meet will be a good final tuneup for the Eagles before they compete in the GSAC Championships on Saturday, October 20, on the same course.