FRESNO --- Biola's women's cross country team had four runners finish in the top 15 to earn third place overall while the men took sixth at the GSAC cross country Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday morning.
The Eagle women finished just 10 points behind second place Concordia though both teams finished well behind No. 1 Azusa Pacific, which cruised to the conference title by sweeping the top three individual places. Biola is currently ranked 8th nationally and will be waiting to here if they've received their at-large bid for their second consecutive trip to the National Championships which will be held at U.W. Parkside in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Saturday, November 22nd.
Leading the way for Biola was senior Kristin Schmidt, who finished with a time of 17:56. Sophomore Katie Thede ran an 18:11, good enough for 10th place and was followed closely by freshmen Nychele Fischetti (11th - 18:12) and Carissa Bowman (15th - 18:14). All three earned All-GSAC honors for their efforts.
Rounding out the contingent for the Eagles were sophomore Kelsey Gasner (23rd - 18:54), sophomore Erika Perez (19th -19:14) and sophomore Kimberley Arroues (33rd - 19:12).
"This women's team was probably the most prepared and ready for this race then any group that I've ever brought to (the conference championships)," said Zimmerman. "Today the top three teams all broke the previous GSAC Championships Team-Time record and certainly proved the GSAC is the strongest conference in the nation as far as cross country is concerned."
On the men's side, Biola took sixth overall, narrowly missing out on fifth by just 10 points. Azusa Pacific completed the sweep with a first place finish on the men's side, tallying 45 points. Host Fresno Pacific placed second with 71 followed by Concordia with 82.
The Eagles' top two runners were both freshman with David Ricksecker finishing 11th overall, earning All-GSAC honors with a time of 25:59. Freshman Robbie Cracknell took 39th, crossing the line in 27:56. Junior Kyle McNulty was Biola's third finisher, taking 33rd in 27:28. Senior Jared Bird finished just behind McNulty in 36th with a time of 27:48 and junior Evan Thibodeau crossing in 27:53 for 38th place overall. Junior Mike Morin (41st - 28:02) and freshman Smith (44th -28:15) rounded out the Biola squad.
"The men ran their best team time of the season (2:15:51) and showed great resolve as they made a great run and just missed a top five finish by 10 points," said Zimmerman. "They were very determined to place in the top six today and they showed tremendous courage in meeting that goal. This was a great end of the season race for them."
Complete Meet Results can be found at http://www.proracegroup.com.
