FULLERTON, CALIF. --- The Biola Women's Cross Country team got off to a strong start in its 2021 season, as the Eagles finished second at the Biola Invitational. BU hosted the 5k race at its home course, Ted Craig Regional Park, in Fullerton, California. 

Biola returned to the course for its first cross country event since the 2019 season. "It's exciting to actually get to run together as a group and run an actual cross country race," said BU Assistant Coach Stephanie Croy. 

The BU squad showed little rust despite the hiatus, placing second amongst the field of 16 teams. Cal State San Marcos, who is ranked No. 9 in the NCAA Division II West Region took the crown with a score of 47 on Friday. With a score of 64, Biola followed with a team time of 1:33.55, as the top five BU finishers placed 5th, 11th, 14th, 21st and 26th. The field of teams at the Biola Invite also included multiple PacWest foes, including Azusa Pacific and Concordia.

Biola freshman, Lynette Ruiz, made her debut as an Eagle and secured a fifth place individual finish in the women's 5k event to pace the Biola squad. Ruiz managed to crack the top-25 for the best times in program-history, posting a mark of 17:56.4 in her first collegiate race.

Ruiz used her teammates for motivation in her strong performance, "I went into the race wanting to stay as a pack with all the girls and once I saw my teammates start out fast, I knew I needed to stay up with them."

Biola had three finishers in the top 15, including Ruiz, Britta Holmberg and Jax Heckers. Sophomore Britta Holmberg just missed a top-ten finish, coming in 11th place with a time of 18:31.2, while senior Jax Heckers finished 14th overall with a time of 18:52.1. All three Eagles finished inside of the top-15 in the field of 124 runners. 

Megan Neumann and Kenzie Elliott rounded out the scorers for Biola, finishing 21st and 26th, respectively. Neumann crossed the finish line at a blazing time of 19:11.6, while Elliott completed her run with a fantastic time of 19:23.2.

A significant break from competition meant a few new faces hit the course for the Eagles, as Ruiz, Holmberg, Neumann, Jordan Gossett, Kaela Berretta, Lillianna Sosa, Julia Knowles, Taylor Caldwell and Hailey Schadt all made their cross country debuts on Friday.

Biola had 12 runners competing in the race on Friday morning. Croy was thoroughly impressed with the women's second-place performance, "I think our women's team came out looking really strong. They did a really good job grouping up and running in their training groups, which is really important as we have been emphasizing that."

The eagles are set to be back in action on September 25 for The Master's Invitational in Santa Clarita, California, for more updates please check out at biola.athletics.edu.