SANTA CLARITA, Calif. --- Coming on the heels of its most successful week of the new season, Biola Cross Country will head to the home of one of its old Golden State Athletic Conference rivals for meet number three of the season, The Master's University Mustang Invitational

THIS WEEK: TMU's Mustang Invitational - Central Park (Santa Clarita, Calif.) - Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018 at 7:45 a.m. (8k first)

TMU MUSTANG INVITATIONAL: Saturday Sept. 29 at 7:45 a.m. \\ Live Results
This week marks the seventh running of The Master's University's Mustang Invitational. It's the third time Biola Cross Country has competed in the event (2015, 2017). The women placed third overall at the event in the 2015 run and last year Biola saw its women finish second (among NCAA DII schools) and the men place third (among NCAA DII schools). This year, Biola is the only PacWest Conference school to compete in this field with the rest of the conference spread out between the Stanford Invitational, Sacramento State Invitational, Capital Cross Country Challenge (Sacramento) and Hawaii Hilo Invitational. Cal State LA and CSU San Bernardino are the only other regional teams that are planned to be in attendance at this meet. Stephanie Croy and Hannah Hunsaker were the Eagles' top two runners at this meet last year. Mackenna Mason was third with a 18:33. Her top converted 5k time of this season is an 18:18, so she should see some improvement, along with the rest of BU's new top-5. On the men's side, Gio Orellana led the charge a year ago with a 26:26. All five of the men's top runners from that week are on this week's roster. Gabe Plendcio, Biola's top runner of the season, did not participate in this event last year.

NOTE: Parking and bus entry is free at Central Park.

ABOUT LAST WEEK: Both Biola teams are coming off wins after a successful meet last Friday at the San Francisco State Invitational. The Eagles were testing themselves by going head-to-head against the other PacWest Conference favorite, Academy of Art. ART U supplied the individual winners for each race, but Biola got the points that really mattered to win the team titles. For the second meet in a row, Mackenna Mason led the women and Gabe Plendcio led the men.

NCCAA TOP TIMES: Biola still leads the National Christian College Athletic Association with the fastest team time in both genders so far in 2018. The men's ran a 2:09:29 to just about match their Biola Invitational time and keep in front of second-place Cedarville (Ohio) by about two minutes. The women's side lowered their time from the previous week. They ran a 6k at SFSU Invite,  but the converted time of 1:33:54 is just about a minute faster than the second-place team, Roberts Wesleyan. Gabe Plendcio has the top individual time in the NCCAA by 24 seconds at 25:16. There are five Eagles in the top-10, making it look like the men would have a shot to repeat as titlists this year. Mackenna Mason's converted 5k time of 18:18 is the best time by a Biola woman so far this year and is good for second-best in the NCCAA. She, Clara Haynes, Emily Ransom and Kaitlyn Natividad all fall within the top-12. No other institution has more than two women in the top-12.

RUNNERS OF THE WEEK: For their performances in San Francisco, Gabe Plendcio, Mackenna Mason, Jared Donnel and Clara Haynes were each honored by either the PacWest or the NCCAA. It was Donnel's first weekly award of his career.

PERSONAL BESTS: There were many great individual performances tucked into the solid team performance last week. The Eagles had eight individuals earn new personal-best times with their runs at Golden Gate Park: Clara Haynes, Shannon Howell, Micaela Pulliam, Kenzie Elliott, Taylor Lawsen, Donnel, Luke Sutherland and Chris Campbell.

NEXT EVENT: SANTA CLARA BRONCO INVITATIONAL - Baylands Regional Park (Sunnyvale, Calif.) - Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018 at 8:45 a.m. (8k first).