RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Biola Cross Country stepped up into the big leagues on Saturday morning as it competed head-to-head with a lot of well-esteemed NCAA Division I competition at the UCR Invitational.
 
Head Coach Sean Henning had student-athletes competing in three of the four races put on by the Highlanders during the morning, beginning with the women's 6k invitational, which is an unconventional distance for a Biola team accustomed to 5ks.
 
The Eagles held their own in a field of 215 runners, placing 14^th overall as a team within the field of 29 programs. The Eagles were the second-highest NCAA Division II program, with Chico State edging them out by just two places in the standings. Fresno Pacific was the only other PacWest school in the women's invitational. The Sunbirds placed 19^th.

"Despite not feeling sharp or rested, they competed well and had great effort out there," said Henning. "Some of them also got to run the 6K distance, which is really good for them since that will be the distance at our conference meet."Mackenna and Hannah did a really solid job leading the way for us. Mackenna went out a bit aggressively but battled all the way to the finish. Hannah had a really solid last mile, which was tough for her last week. Emily Ransom also continues to make steps in the right direction and is really coming around."
 
Mackenna Mason once again was the pace person for the Eagles' effort. She finished the race 42^nd overall with a 21:17. The rest of Biola's top runners were bunched fairly close to Mason, with all of Henning's top-3 recording times lower than 22 minutes.
 
Hannah Hunsaker was the second Biolan to finish. She crossed the line at 21:24 in 47^th place. She finished the race sandwiched between one runner from UC Santa Barbara and three from Southern Utah.
 
Stephanie Croy rounded out that top-3 when she lunged across the finish line as the clock hit 21.51. That was good enough for 74^th-place, which was 41 spots better than anyone but the top runner on PacWest foe Fresno Pacific.
 
Emily Ransom (94^th – 22:07) and Kaili Waller (121^st – 22:34) rounded out the Eagles' top-5 in the early morning race.
 
The men's 8k invitational followed immediately after the ladies finished up and Henning's boys put their best foot forward to earn a 18^th-place team finish out of the total field of 32 schools. The Eagles were the fourth-best Division II squad in the field behind only Chico State (2^nd), CSU San Marcos (14^th) and Fort Collins (16th).
 
For the first time this season Gabe Plendcio was Biola's top runner. Plendcio paced the Eagles' flock with a 25:04, finishing 44th overall. Plendcio shaved 15 seconds from the time he posted in a third-place finish at the Biola Invitational last week.
 
He was 19 seconds ahead of the Eagles' second-place man, Ryan Thompson. Thompson crossed the line at 25:23 and was 69^th among counting runners.
 
There were 241 runners in the men's race and five of Biola's seven managed to finish inside the top half of that group. The other three to place inside of the top 50 percent were Gio Orellana (102^nd – 25:44), Ryan St. Pierre (116^th – 26:02) and Timmy Wilson (125^th - 26:08). Orellana was the PacWest Conference freshman of the week for his performance last week, and he managed to drop six seconds off his time this go around. Wilson cut very close to 30 seconds from his time at Biola's 8k.

"I never doubt their willingness to compete for each other and know that was there this week. We are still working really hard to be prepared for the conference meet come October," said Henning. "Gabe was our top guy this week and did a good job of staying patient and poised throughout the race. Timmy also did a good job being patient and moving up throughout the pack."
 
To close out the day the Eagles sent another group of female runners to compete in the Open 5k. There were nearly 300 runners competing in this race and the Eagles took home 20^th among 27 countable teams.
 
Jessica Cody led the pack for the Eagles in this third race of the day. The junior crossed the line in 19:30, which is a 14-second improvement from last week and good for 72nd overall. Melissa Ledesma finished seven seconds later and claimed 80^th-place with a 19:37. It was also a vast improvement from last Saturday as she shaved 13 seconds.
 
Natalie Renfroe (101^st – 19:55), Taylor Lawsen (110^th – 20:05) and Kathryn Doherty (117^th – 20:17) rounded out the Eagles' top-5 in the open. It was the first finishes of the season for Lawsen and Doherty.

"Jessica had a solid day and will continue to grow and learn more about racing in college," said Henning. "This is only the second cross country race of her college career. Natalie also shows great consistency and basically equaled her time from last week. She is ready to make a big jump as well."
 
Biola will take next weekend off and resume its competition schedule the following week at the Mustang Invitational hosted by old Golden State Athletic Conference rival The Master's University.