IRVINE, Calif. --- It was a bright, sunny Southern California morning at Irvine Regional Park on Saturday morning. A perfect day for Biola Cross Country to host its lone home event of the year, conveniently timed during Biola Weekend, so the Eagles could have a bunch of fans in parents and alumni.
 
Biola's women's team placed fourth in the 14-team field, with the men's side placing ninth of 13 teams. Kevin Horchler again stole the show with a second-place overall finish in a field of 105 men's runners.
 
"It was a very rewarding experience," said Head Coach Jonathan Zimmerman. "It was great seeing so many fans, parents and alumni."
 
This home event is also considered to be a "super regional" as far as the NAIA Cross Country schedule goes, drawing in 16 teams from California, Arizona, Oregon and Montana. It is one of three large regional meets that happened around the country today.
 
The women's fourth-place finish was keyed by another fantastic performance from Carrie Soholt. The senior completed the 5k course in 18:32.86 to place 12^th overall. She was just under a minute behind the race winner, Leah Esposito of Carroll (MT), who completed the course in 17:42.38.
 
The Eagles got two other top-20 finishes in the race, with Anika Gasner and Carrie Soholt taking 16^th and 19^th, respectively.
 
CSU San Marcos dominated the field to take first in the women's team competition. The Cougars had all of their top-five inside the top-20 and their top-seven each placed lower than 25^th. They ended the race with just 43 points, putting them 53 points in front of second-place finisher, Carroll College.

"Our women ran a decent race today," said Zimmerman. "To finish fourth as a team at this level of competition is a good thing."
 
The top team finished from the Golden State Athletic Conference came from Westmont (3^rd), Biola (4^th) and The Master's (5^th).
 
Horchler finished just eight seconds back from the individual winner in the men's race, Andrew Tallamas of CSU San Marcos. The Cougars also won the men's race, accumulating 32 points with five of their runners placing inside the top-10.
 
After Horchler came Wes Noyes, followed by Brandon Berz and Kwalia Mairori. All three of those runners beat their previous season-best in the 8k race.
 
"Kevin ran very well today, and our men's team as a whole put in their best team effort of the year," said Zimmerman.
 
This race was Biola's final tune-up before they head into the GSAC Championship meet Nov. 8. Biola's women's team is the two-time defending conference champion.