ORANGE, Calif. --- Biola's women's cross country team won its second-straight invitational title by placing seven runners in the top 15 while the men finished a solid third at the Biola University NAIA West Coast Jamboree at the Irvine Regional Park in Orange.
The women's team, ranked No. 5 in the latest NAIA National rankings, continued its impressive season with yet another team title. It was truly a team effort as the Eagles had their top eight runners finish within 61 seconds of each other--all in the top 16. Biola scored 37 points thanks to half of the top 16 runners wearing Biola colors. Westmont was close behind with 41 points with The Master's finishing third with 58.
Freshman
Kellian Hunt led Biola's contingent with a second-place finish overall on the 5K course, crossing in 18:19. Freshman
Neysa Mains placed fourth in 18:35 with junior
Chelsea Janzen taking home seventh in 18:49 and Freshman
Ilima Kung placing 11th overall in 18:25. Biola swept 13th-16th place led senior
Rachel Stump crossing in 19:03. Junior
Kasey Schalich was 14th in 19:06 followed by sophomore Carrie Sohol in 15th (19:15) and freshman Brook Arvidson in 16th (19:20).
On the men's side, Biola placed three in the top eight overall to finish third as a team with 78 points. The Master's took home first place with 26 points while Westmont finished second with 65.
Junior
Danny Ledesma ran big personal best on the Biola "home course", finishing third overall with a 26-second PR time of 25:28. His previous best had been 25:54. Sophomore
Andrew Daedler took home seventh place with a time of 26:00 while senior
Spencer Lyle also PR'd with a time of 26:05, knocking five seconds off his time from last season.
Rounding out the scoring seven for the Eagles were junior Andrew Edmondson (31st - 27:51), freshman
Shane Brinson (33rd - 27:55), senior
Joseph Harabedian (34th - 28:05) and junior
Scott Weir (47th - 29:37).
Biola returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 3, hosting the Golden State Athletic Conference Championship race at the Irvine Regional Park in Orange. Racing begins with the women's 5K race at 9:00 am followed by the men's 8K race at 10:00 am. Admission is free though there is a $5 parking charge assessed by the county.
