ROMEOVILLE, Ill. — Saturday race action for the Eagles saw BU run at the Lewis Crossover in Romeoville, Illinois and at the Pomona-Pitzer Invite in Claremont, California. 

The Lewis Crossover held a significant pool of competition that featured 11 women's teams that were ranked or receiving votes (No. 1 Grand Valley State, No. 21 Colorado Christian, No. 19 Minnesota Duluth, No. 26 Saginaw Valley, No. 18 Walsh, No. 24 Wayne State, No. 21 Cal State San Marcos, RV Concordia, RV Lenoir-Rhyne, RV Anderson (SC) and No. 26 Biola) and eight men's teams that were ranked or receiving votes (No. 6 Colorado Christian, No. 19 Lewis, No. 1 Grand Valley State, RV Wayne State, No. 26 Walsh, No. 30 Anderson (SC), No. 24 Cal State San Marcos and No. 22 Biola).

The rigorous task of taking on the top teams in the country brought out a strong push from the Eagles. The women's squad finished in eighth place with 249 points, recording a team time of 1:57:40.10. Saturday's race was the first 6K meter event for Biola this season.

Lynette Ruiz powered ahead for another impressive performance in 2021. The freshman earned 16th place with a time of 22:44.50. The quick pace tied Siena Stacy for the 20th fastest 6K run in school history.

The remaining four scorers for BU worked together as a team and all finished within 12 seconds of each other. Mackenna Mason and Britta Holmberg landed side-by-side on the leaderboard, posting 60th and 61st finishes with times of 23:38.90 and 23:40.30, respectively. 

All five scorers stayed under 24 minutes, as Megan Neumann crossed the finish line at 23:45.80, while Grace Catena crossed at 23:50.80. 

Three runners inside the top-40 helped the Biola men's cross country squad to an eighth place finish at the Lewis Crossover. BU's top five times accrued to 2:09:40.20, while the team accumulated 244 total points.

The lead pack for the Eagles' unit all finished within three seconds of one another between 36th and 40th place. Ronald Kigen led the way with a time of 25:40.90, as the 36th finisher on Saturday. Jerry Baltzer and Brady DeHaven were neck-and-neck to cap off their 8K races with Baltzer coming out ahead in 39th place with a time of 25:42.90. Following right after was DeHaven in 40th and a time of 25:43.30.

Once again, two Biola runners maintained nearly identical paces as Angel Escobar and Jared Donnel were separated by 0.4 seconds. Escobar took 75th place amongst all individual runners, while Donnel nabbed 76th, as the duo each finished just a few milliseconds above 26:16.

At the Pomona-Pitzer Invite, Jax Heckers paced the Eagles with a 15th place individual finish. Kenzie Elliott, Jordan Gossett, Haleigh Guerrero and Keira Coye also helped the team to third place on the day, offering a team time of 1:57.47 in the 6K race.

On the men's side, Biola ran to a fourth place finish in the 8K event on Saturday morning. Freshman Charlie Bailey impressed for the Eagles, logging a time of 26:00.1 with a 25th place finish to lead the team.

BU cross country will finish its regular season schedule on Friday October 22 at the Titan Invitational, before competing in the PacWest Championship set for Saturday October 23.