SACRAMENTO, Calif. --- It was a bright, beautiful day at our state's capital as Biola Men's Cross Country competed in the first-ever NCAA Championship event in Biola's 100+ year history.

It was a landmark day for the history of Biola Athletics, and there's no better team to be the first to represent than this group led by Head Coach Sean Henning.

Henning's squad, fresh off winning back-to-back PacWest Conference championships, placed 25th overall in the national event led by number one runner Gabe Plendcio. 

"There were a lot of good things that happen today," said Henning. "We were definitely hoping to finish higher up in the team standings and started out well. I think that one of the things the guys just have to learn through experience is races like this going out hard and having to deal with it and hang on to the spot you are in." 

Plendcio spent the first half of the race running hard with a big lead pack, holding steady between 20th place and 30th place, before tailing off a bit over the final 5,000m. Even after falling back, the stellar senior still managed to finish among the top 28 percent of runners present, with a 75th-place finish and 10k time of 31:18.2.

Biola finished as the sixth NCAA Division II West Region school in the compiled standings. That was about the expectation as this BU team placed sixth at the regional race just two weekends ago. 

"As a team we were not satisfied with just making it to nationals today but wanted to come here and try and do something special," said senior Ryan Thompson. "We knew that in order to do that it meant going out hard and taking risk by putting ourselves in it early and just trying to stick. We did exactly that and I'm incredibly proud of every guy on this team for battling to the very end today."

Colorado School of Mines, which came into the meet as the number one ranked team in the country, lived up to that ranking with its first NCAA Division II Men's Cross Country national championship. 

Chico State, the top west region representative, took third place overall. Biola was, of course, the top PacWest Conference school as all other PacWest competition qualified solely as individuals. 

A freshman from American International College (Springfield, Mass.), Ezra Mutai, won the individual national championship with a time of 29:31.2. It was an exciting finish at the top as Mutai was second behind Missouri Southern's Gideon Kimutai for all but the last 800 meters or so. Kimutai seemed well on his way to victory, but then seemed to be hampered by what's hopefully a minor injury and placed fifth overall.

Biola saw it's top-5 all finish within 61 seconds of each other. Plendcio led with his 31:18.2 and Angel Escobar filled in as the other bookend with a time of 32:19 as the fifth Eagle across the line. That locked in the 25th-place team finish.

The other scorers came across in a tight group within the 32nd minute. Brady DeHaven was second across for BU, going 31:38. He was followed by Gio Orellana's 31:52 and finally Ryan Thompson's 31:59. Thompson moved up nine places late in the race to put out a great showing in his final collegiate event.

"This race was a bit of an emotional and sentimental one for me as it was the last race of my collegiate career," said Thompson. "It has been an absolute honor running as an eagle for the last four-and-a-half years."

Jared Donnel and Ryan St. Pierre each also moved up a few places in the final stretch as they looked to log good scores in sixth and seventh for Biola in case the need to break any ties arose. Donnel posted a 33:19 and St. Pierre a 34:19.

"Ryan Thompson had a much better day than regionals and gutted out a solid finish, probably passing 10 guys over the last 2 km," said Henning. "Angel, Jared, and Ryan St. Pierre had tough days but all learned a lot and will be back here in a year. The experience will be invaluable for them and our program moving forward."

Biola's 25th-place finish came courtesy a point total of 544. They were 11 points back from American International in 24th and 30 points ahead of west region foe UC San Diego in 26th.

"Being the 25th-best team in the nation in your first year as an NCAA Division II team is no joke," said Henning. "We are looking forward to being back and being even better next year. We believe that one of the best ways we can glorify God through the sport is giving our best efforts and emptying ourselves with our abilities."