SANTA CLARITA, Calif. --- Biola's No. 6 women's cross country team placed third at the 2015 The Master's College Mustang challenge, finishing as the highest non-NCAA Division 1 team in the field. The men's side got solid runs from Kevin Horchler and Ryan Thompson to pace a 12–place team finish.
 
Kellian Hunt led the way for Biola's women's team that had its top-5 finish within one minute and 25 seconds of each other. Hunt and Anika Gasner both finished inside of the meet's top-5 for the second race in a row as they went four and five overall. Both of the seniors dropped time from their run last time out and finished in the mid-17s.
 
"I was very happy with how the women performed as a whole," said Head Coach Sean Henning. "We can still work on pack running a little more in certain areas, but everyone really came ready to race hard and run with true purpose."

Rounding out the women's top-5 runners was Lyndee Dawson (18:31), Stephanie Croy (18:47) and Michelle Clark (18:55). Croy and Clark both made their first appearance among the Eagles' counting runners this season.

Perhaps the most personally important achievment of this Saturday for the women's contingent was beating their conference rival, and the race host, The Master's College, by seven points.

The Eagles utilized strong runs from its entire lineup to edge the Mustangs, getting five personal-best runs out of its top-7 runners. Kaili Waller and Alisa Murray went No. 6 and No. 7 for BU.
 
The men's squad faced some stiff competition against a field stacked with NCAA Division I talent. Horchler and Thompson both found their way to top-40 finishes in the field of 200-plus athletes. The duo went 1-2 for the Eagles for the second time in as many races this year. Thompson dropped 35 seconds from his time at the UC Irvine Invite.
 
Rounding out the men's top-5 was Timmy Wilson (27:14), Christian Perez (27:17) and Shane Brinson (27:38). All five finished inside of the top-114 runners. It was Wilson and Perez's first appearance inside of the Eagles' top-5 in the 2015 season.

"We had some great individual performances, but we didn't do a very good job of working with each other, and that makes it tough when you're racing 8,000 meters," said Henning.
 
The Eagles' schedule is consistent from here on out with just one more off weekend until the GSAC Championship on Nov. 7. Next week the squad's are at CSU San Bernardino for the Coyote Invitational.