SANTA CLARITA, Calif. --- Biola Cross Country took a trip down memory lane Saturday morning as it competed at The Master's University XC Invitational, hosted by old GSAC foes, the Mustangs.
 
The Women's team set new season-best times and had two runners finish inside of the top-10, while an abbreviated men's squad pulled back the reigns a bit and ran a planned, controlled race with its top finisher just inside of the top-50.
 
Stephanie Croy was the star of the day on Saturday as she completed the women's 5k in 17:48 to set a new personal season-best, but also to mark the new women's top time of the year. She bested the previous top time by eight seconds.

"Stephanie Croy had her best cross country race in a Biola singlet. This was the first time she has been our number one runner, and looked extremely confident and in control," said Head Coach Sean Henning. "
 
Hannah Hunsaker also beat the previous season-best time, set by Mackenna Mason at the Biola Invite. She completed the course in 17:55 and joined Croy among the races' top-10 runners. Croy crossed the line in third-place and Hunsaker was fifth.
 
Mason (18:33), Emily Ransom (18:39) and Mandy Reyes (19:04) rounded out the Eagles' five top scorers on the morning. They all finished inside of the top-36 in the field of 117 countable runners. The Eagles' five posted a team time of 91:59, which is a new season-best. It beat the previous time, also from the Biola Invite, but just about a minute.

"The women had a very solid day today," said Henning. "Our usual number one, Mackenna Mason, was battling illness and was off a bit. She still ran very courageous and finished very respectably."
 
Henning had 12 finish the race on Saturday morning. A trio of Stephanie Chaires, Kaitlyn Natividad and Melissa Ledesma all finished not too far back from the top group of five, with times ranging from 19:17 – 19:27.

"We also had a lot of girls on the back end step up and show they want to help the team after we recently lost a key piece for the season due to injury," said Henning. "Stephanie Chaires, Kaitlyn Natividad and Melissa Ledesma all stepped up and had solid days for us today. We finished second overall to Cal State San Marcos, a very good team who is currently ranked #9 in all of Division II."
 
The men's race was more of a training effort for Henning and his team. Only five guys made the trip and they were working on things throughout, which explains some higher individual times.

"Our men ran a controlled race and we only raced five guys. The plan was to run a very controlled first three miles and then race hard the last two," said Henning. "We wanted them all to get in another 8k to continue to learn about the race. They did very well with it."
 
Gio Orellana led the way with a 26:27. He led a group of newcomers that all finished within 11 seconds of one another as Ryan St. Pierre (26:38) and Tanner Dutchover (26:38) were not too far behind.
 
Christian Perez (27:11) and Nic Nelson (27:52) rounded out the Eagles' contingent. It was Nelson's first race of the 2017 season.

"Gio, Ryan, and Tanner all moved up 36-42 spots over the last two miles," said Henning. "The team finish meant nothing to us, we just wanted to have a great experience and get even more comfortable with that distance and closing hard."

The women's team placed second overall out of four NCAA Division II schools. The men finished third of four.
 
Biola Cross Country gets back to work next weekend at Saturday's UC San Diego Triton Invitational. It is the final event on the schedule before the PacWest Conference Championships (Oct. 21).