Billings, Mont. --- The below freezing temperatures did not hinder the Eagles, who put together impressive runs at the NCAA DII West Regional Championships on Saturday in Billings, Montana. As a team, the BU women collected a podium finish, which gives them a spot at the National Championships on December 2.

"These girls have shown tremendous grit and determination throughout the year," said head coach Sean Henning. "It's great to know that we don't have to wait until Monday to know that we are qualified for nationals. We are so grateful to the Lord for that gift and now we will take full advantage of it by prepping to have our absolute best race of the season in two weeks time."

Fresh off a conference title, the Biola women's cross country team came to play on Saturday. The young squad stepped up in the 6k race, being the only team to place six runners in the top 40. 

Ultimately, the Eagles nabbed third place with 114 team points. In her rookie year, Bethany Mapes delivered for BU, logging a time of 21:27.4 for eighth place. The top-10 individual placement was the best finish in program history at Regionals. "Bethany did a fantastic job of placing herself in a really good position early on, which made her life so much easier on the back half of the race," commented Henning.

Grace Catena also beat the previous record, landing in 17th place. The senior posted a time of 21:41.6, averaging a pace of 5:48.

BU collected a team time of 1:49:01.0 to help propel them to Nationals qualifications. PacWest champion Lynette Ruiz did her part with a time of 21:50.0 and a placement of 25th.

Ellie Stetina and Hannah Champness rounded out the scorers for BU with finishes of 26th and 38th, respectively. Stetina followed up right behind Ruiz, trailing her teammate by one second. 

The men grabbed sixth place with a total score of 147. The team time reached 2:36:06.01 with a top-five individual finish from Benjamin White.

Benjamin White carried the torch for the Eagles following his PacWest individual crown. He turned in a time of 30:20.6, while averaging 4:54 per mile. "Ben did a really good job of putting himself in contention in the race," said Henning. "He probably needed to be a bit more patient but I was still very happy with a fourth place finish from him."

White transferred to Biola from Whittier College and brought his talents all the way to the Regional stage and now on to Nationals. The graduate student finished in fourth place, tying the best mark in program history at Regionals set by Gabe Plendcio in 2019.

A top-five finish put White in position to move on to the National Championships in Seattle. The full field of teams and individuals will be announced on Monday.

"On the Men's side, our goal was to finish in the top five. Unfortunately, we didn't have a great start and we weren't able to put any more than one guy in the top 25," said Henning.

Biola placed four runners in the top 40 and all five scorers in the top 50 in a field of 150 runners. Ryan Todd came through in 29th place with a time of 31:13.5. The redshirt freshman made his mark in his first Regionals race.

Jerry Baltzer, Brady DeHaven and Aidan Tomasini posted sub 32 minute times to each sneak into the top 50. 

"I'm still very proud of this group of young men," added Henning. "I know they compete for the right reasons, they want to honor the Lord with their best effort and they care about their teammates and run with humility. Despite not quite hitting our overall team goal, I can't think of a better group of guys to coach."

The Biola women's team and Benjamin White will make the trip to Seattle to compete in the NCAA DII National Championships set for December 2.