FULLERTON, Calif. --- Biola Cross Country finishes off its regular season this week in nearby Fullerton. The Eagles will run at the CSU Fullerton Titan Invite for the fourth-consecutive season and will bring everyone along this year.

THIS WEEK: CSUF Titan Invite - CSUF Campus (Placentia, Calif.) - Friday, Oct. 19, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. (women's 5k first)

CSUF Titan Invite: Friday Oct. 19 at 5:00 p.m. \\ Live Results
This is the fourth time Biola Cross Country will attend the local NCAA Division I school's home meet. The past few years have seen Head Coach Sean Henning bring an abbreviated roster to compete at the meet, but this year he's bringing just about everybody as one last tune-up in advance of the PacWest Cross Country Championships early next month. The races will feature 19 teams that have enough runners to score, including PacWest foe Concordia Irvine. Also competing from the NCAA Division II west region is Cal Poly Pomona. The rest is a mix of NCAA Division I, III, NAIA and community college schools with a few running clubs and unattached runners thrown in to amount to 387 total athletes. Coach Henning is bringing 24 student-athletes with him to the race. Only one of those 24, Taylor Lawsen, was a part of the group to run at CSUF last season. Lawsen ran a 19:22.24 to pace the Biola effort on the women's side.

MEET ENTRIES

NOTE: There is no charge for admission. Exit 57 @ Yorba Linda Blvd. and go west. After passing signal at Associated Rd. turn left into Parking Lot A. Park at the south end of lot A across from the track. The pathway between Titan Stadium and the track will take you to the recreation fields. A daily parking permit can be purchased from the yellow machine at the entrance to lot A. Daily parking permits cost $8.

ABOUT LAST MEET: Last week was a historic one for this Biola Cross Country program. The men's side saw Gabe Plendcio set a new school record by being the first man to run sub-24:00 in the 8k. He finished inside of the top-10 at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational with a time of 23:59.1. The men's team also set a record for top team time ever, by a pretty wide margin. The Eagles' top runners combined to run a 2:04:26.0 to average 24:53.20 and finish second among NCAA Division II teams (Chico State won the meet). The women's side split up between the women's invitational 6k and women's open 6k with Clara Haynes and Mackenna Mason running the first race and the rest of the team in the open. Haynes had the team's top time on the week with a 21:48.9. That time converted down to 5k ties Mason for the top individual time of the season. Emily Ransom led the group that was competing in the open to a fourth-place team finish. She had a season-best time of 21:58.8, which converts to the third-best time of the season for BU (behind just Haynes and Mason). The success of the weekend translated to a whole lot of awards for BU. See below.

A CLEAN SWEEP: Biola Cross Country won all six awards that it could possibly win last week, taking home both national honors from the National Christian College Athletic Association and all four honors from the PacWest Conference. Gabe Plendcio was both NCCAA and PacWest Runner of the Week, his third time winning each honor this season. Clara Haynes was rewarded with NCCAA Runner of the Week and PacWest Freshman of the Week honors (her third PWC award). Emily Ransom won PacWest Runner of the Week, to earn her first weekly award of the season. Finally, Brady DeHaven won his second PacWest Freshman of the Week award thanks to his 8k time of 25:01.3.

NCCAA TOP TIMES: Biola is back on top! The Eagles' strong performances at last week's Santa Clara Bronco Invitational have them back in the driver's seat in the NCCAA Top Times Report. The men's time was a new school record and good enough to pass Cedarville (Ohio) by about 30 seconds and retake the national lead after week six. The women's top team time held steady as the result from the TMU Mustang Invite and kept them in the lead by about a minute and a half. The individual top times also saw some mixing up as Gabe Plendcio retook the men's lead by passing Ethan Sullivan of Cedarville with his record-breaking run. On the women's side, Haynes moved into a tie for second in the nation (with Mason). They both trail Makayla Hewell of Emmanuel College by about 20 seconds. The men's side occupies five of the top-8 spots on the individual list, with Plendcio, DeHaven, Ryan St. Pierre, Angel Escobar and Jared Donnel represented. The women's top-5 all appear in the top-12, with Mason, Haynes and Ransom occupying the 2-4 spots in the listing. See full NCCAA Top Times.

NEXT EVENT: PacWest Cross Country Championships - Woodward Park (Fresno, Calif.) hosted by Fresno Pacific - Friday, Nov. 2, 2018 at 8:00 a.m.