ALISO VIEJO, Calif. --- Biola Track & Field had its second of three chances to accumulate qualifications for the NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships at Saturday's SOKA Invitational. The Eagles earned nine new national qualifiers on an impressive day competing with other NAIA, NCAA and junior college competition.
 
"Today we had a good day," said Head Coach Sean Henning.
 
The Eagles put forth some great performances in individual events and the relays on both the men and women's side.
 
The men's Distance Medley Relay met the 'A' national standard with a second-place finish right behind Vanguard with a 10:20. Andrew Daedler led a team of himself, Aditya Lal, Wes Noyes and Ryan Thompson to the strong finish.
 
Daedler, back in action for BU after spending the fall as an assistant cross country coach, also earned a national qualifying mark in the 1,000m. He hit the 'B' standard with his fourth-place finish run of 2:32.
 
The women focused their attention on the 4x800m relay. Anika Gasner, Hannah Hunsaker, Lyndee Dawson and Melissa Ledesma ran a 9:40 to win the race by four seconds and hit the 'A' qualifying standard.
 
"We ran very, very controlled and just tried to get the mark. We didn't care about the time," said Henning.
 
The women that comprised that relay team also had a very strong day of individual performances. Gasner hit the 'A' standard with a big win in the 800m (2:14).  Alisa Murray hit the 'B' mark with her second-place finish in that same race (2:18).
 
Hannah Hunsaker won the 1,000m and hit the 'B' standard at 3:01.68. Also from that 4x800m relay team, Lyndee Dawson placed third and hit the 'A' qualifying standard in the 5,000m with an 18:08.
 
Stephanie Croy hit an 'B' qualifying mark in that same 5k, while Michelle Clark finished just four seconds away from a qualification of her own.
 
Ilima Kung attained the last indoor qualification of the day with a 'B' qualifier in her run of the mile (5:07.20). She finished second just behind The Master's College stud Karis Frankian.
 
"I am looking forward to one last opportunity to qualify next weekend and then starting to prepare for nationals in three weeks," said Henning.
 
Outside of the national qualifying efforts Biola got some great performances out of Lal, Elyse Harabedian and Emily Heisinger. Lal won the 600m with a time of 1:23. He beat the field by two seconds, but he missed qualifying by just one second.
 
Harabedian continues to push toward qualification in the high jump. She finished second and cleared 1.59m in a strong effort. Heisinger ran a top-5 time in the 60m and continued to learn to run the 400m by participating on BU's second-place 4x400m team.
 
Biola gets back to the track next Saturday at the Pomona-Pitzer All-Comers meet. It's the last chance to qualify for indoor nationals, which are held in Johnson City, Tenn. From March 3-5.