COSTA MESA, Calif. --- Biola's women took home the team title while the men finished an impressive third, returning to action for the first time in nearly a month at the 23rd Vanguard Invitational on Saturday at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa.
The Biola women, ranked No. 5 in the latest NAIA National Poll, placed seven in the top 20 to take home first place with a team score of 27, finishing 20 points ahead of second-place Azusa Pacific. Westmont, currently ranked No. 8 in the country, finished with 59 points in third place.
Freshman Kellian Hunt was the top collegiate finisher, placing second overall in 17:33.92. Close behind was a group of three Eagles led by fellow freshman Neysa Mains, who placed fifth in 18:01.81. Senior Rachel Stump took home sixth in 18:09.31 with Chelsea Janzen just behind in seventh at 19:08.89.
Rounding out the scoring seven for Biola was freshman Ilima King in 12th in 18:23.96 and Carrie Soholt, who was competing in her first race of the year after suffering an injury last spring, finished in 17th in 18:29.59.
On the men's side, Biola scored 107 points to place in a tie for third place with Westmont which is ranked No. 18 in the NAIA National Rankings. Vanguard took top honors with 77 points followed by Azusa Pacific in second with 89.
Senior Spencer Lyle and junior Danny Ledesma placed second and third, respectively, in the race. Lyle had a great race, finishing in 25:27:08 with Ledesma taking home third in 25:30.11.
Sophomore Andrew Daedler ran to a 23rd place finish with a time of 26:46.01 followed by senior Joseph Harabedian in 43rd with a time of 27:54.01. Rounding out the scorers were junior Andy Edmonson in 46th (27:59.47), freshman Shane Brinson in 49th (28:10.90) and junior Scott Weir in 51st (28:16.62).
"Great team races on both sides today," said Head Coach Jonathan Zimmerman. "Carrie was running in her first race since an injury last spring and has been diligent with rehab and cross training and back to running. She is awesome at doing the little things and has kept a positive attitude all the way along.
"That was a great breakthrough race for both Spencer and Danny," Zimmerman said. "They ran their race and it was awesome to see it work out well for them. It was a huge boost for the men's team."
The Eagles return to action next week with the 2012 NAIA West Coast Jamboree hosted by Biola. The race is at Irvine Regional Park in Orange next Saturday beginning at 8:30 a.m.
