MONMOUTH, Ore. --- The Ash Creek Preserve in Monmouth, Oregon presented a challenge to all runners with a hilly course. The weather was also not a friend to the field, as the athletes battled cold, wet and windy conditions.

The Biola women's cross country squad ran as a unified group, placing all seven runners in the top-60. The only other team to accomplish that same feat was the regional champs, No. 8 Simon Fraser. The spread between Biola's one through five finishers was just 50 seconds. That performance was the best among the top-6 teams in the event. Coach Sean Henning's squad placed fifth.

Biola started strong, holding onto third place through the first two splits. The Eagles pack pushed the pace through the first 2.4 kilometers, looking for an automatic bid to nationals. Just after the third kilometer, Chico State and PacWest rivals Academy of Art pushed past the Biola women to take third and fourth and move Biola down to its fifth-place finish. Just like in the PacWest Championship meet ART U held a one-point advantage over the Eagles at the end of the third scoring split.

From the end of that third split (3.9k) until the end of the 6k race the top-6 teams held their running order. The GNAC team (Simon Fraser) took the title, but the rest of the top-6 was comprised of teams from the CCAA and PacWest, with Biola and ART U holding the flag for the PWC. 

Lynette Ruiz, fresh off winning PacWest freshman of the year, was once again Biola top finisher. She completed the course in 22:06, which was about 15 seconds quicker than her last 6k time recorded at the PacWest Championships. Ruiz finished 21st overall and was the 17th scoring runner to cross the line. 

After Ruiz came the bunch of Eagles which all placed between 33rd and 59th among scorers. Jax Heckers led that second group with a 22:34.5, excelling in her first chance to compete at a regional event against her former teammates from CSU San Marcos. Heckers' finish put her in front of all but one of those Cougars.

Not too far back from Heckers was Mackenna Mason. Mason shaved about 35 seconds off of her PacWest meet time as well, completing the preserve course in 22:34.5. Also placing inside the top-40 of the scoring bunch was Britta Holmberg. The second-year Eagle from Eagle, Idaho went 22:44.4 to finish right behind Mason in 39th.

Daisy Romero was the Eagles' final scorer. She ran a 22:56.5 to cross the line 51st and just a half-second in front of teammate Megan Neumann. The times equated to about a 15-second improvement for Romero and about a 35-second improvement for Neumann over their finishes at PacWest. Grace Catena was the final Eagle to round out that running group, crossing the line at 23:00-flat to finish 59th among the 157 scoring runners.

The fifth-place team finish puts Biola in a position to scoreboard watch a little bit. The Eagles have a chance to earn an at-large selection to the NCAA Division II Women's Cross Country Championships in Tampa, Florida on November 20. The selections are announced on Monday, November 8.