SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- Biola Track & Field hopped down the 5-freeway on Friday to compete in day one at the San Diego State Aztec Invitational. In a first day spanning just about 12 hours, Biola held its own against some deep NCAA competition.

The day began at 9:30 a.m. with the Eagles' 4x100m relay team finishing fifth with a time just two seconds back from the winning team from UC Santa Barbara (:49.46). It ended at just past 9:00 p.m. as Christian Perez ran in the final event of the day, the men's 3,000m. He finished seventh overall with a 9:38.

The Eagles had five women competing in the 3,000m, with Kaitlin Quaid leading the way with a third-place finish in the open run of the event. Quaid crossed the line with a 10:41, which is a 33-second improvement over her time in the same event at CSU Los Angeles a few weeks ago.

Freshman Ryan St. Pierre paced the men's effort in the 1,500m open race, where he came in just about a second faster than Gabe Plendcio to finish fourth overall with a 3:58. Both men ran career-best times in the event. Robbie Gleeson also had a solid showing with a 4:01 in the men's invite. That trio and Ryan Thompson all hit the PacWest Conference qualifying standard for the men's 1,500m, which is 4:02.70.

Gleeson had an excellent day as he also earned a top-5 finish in the 800m. He ran the event for the first time this season and completed the race in 1:58.66 to earn the fifth spot. Gleeson was just a hair behind his teammate, Aditya Lal, who placed fourth with a 1:58.32.

Shannon Howell led the women's effort in that race, posting a new career-best time of 2:27 while finishing the open in 12th overall. The Eagles also saw Elizabeth Pintarich and Winter Baungartner set new personal-bests in the same race.

The women's 1,500m invite was one of the most stacked events of the day as over 52 runners from NCAA Division I powerhouses all the way down to top local club runners competed in four heats. The Eagles had five runners finish in the top half of the field, led by Hannah Hunsaker (18th - 4:42) and Crystal Jardines (19th - 4:42). Stephanie Croy, Mackenna Mason and Emily Ransom were all also in the mix. Those same runners also hit the PacWest Conference qualifying standard for the event by finishing under 4:47.70.

Mandy Reyes was just a few seconds shy of her collegiate best as she placed second in the women's 3,000m steeplechase open race with a time of 11:36.

Paige LaBare won her heat in the 200m dash and finish just about a second behind the event winner from the University of Arizona with her time of :25.43.

"Paige hit a PacWest conference qualifier in the 200m, which was great," said Head Coach Sean Henning.

Aubrey Herrscher and Amelia DeYoung both set new collegiate-bests to lead the women's effort in the 400m, which was one of the first races of the day. Herrscher finished 11th overall with a 1:01, while DeYoung came in at 19th overall with a 1:03.

Sarah Prystupa set a new season-best and nearly matched her career-best in the pole vault, finishing fifth by clearing 3.57m.

"Sarah is looking really strong. She is close to the national standard and should be there in a week or so," said Henning.

Gabriel Igbokwe didn't have as solid of a day in the long jump, but he did set a new season-best in the triple jump by finishing fourth with a mark of 13.63m in his third attempt.

"Gabriel did well, and he should continue to improve," said Henning.

The Eagles also had some student-athletes taking a chance at the heptathlon and decathlon for the first time at this meet. Nathaniel Belden had his first chance of the season at the decathlon. While Corry Williams and Heidi Sowers each took their first ever chance at the multi-events. 

"Corry and Heidi both competed well and have lots of room to improve," said Henning. "Nathaniel did well on the first day and then had a couple of tough events the second day. He will continue to improve and has a lot more to give."

Biola will stick to Friday night competition again next week as they get back in action with the San Francisco State Distance Carnival. The non-distance student-athletes will be back in San Diego for next Saturday's UC San Diego California Collegiate Open.