SAN LEANDRO, Calif. --- Biola University Cross Country stampeded through the competition on Saturday morning at the PacWest Championships in Northern California.

Both the men and women's teams earned team championships, while Benjamin White and Lynette Ruiz took home the individual titles in their respective runs. This is the first time in Biola Cross Country history where both teams earned the league title on the same day.

"It is a great feeling to win both," said Head Coach Sean Henning. "It's very satisfying to see both teams empty themselves out onto the course and utilize their utmost potential."

This marks PacWest Championships number four and five for Biola University's athletic department since it's entrance to the league in 2017-18. It's the women's first PacWest conference title, while the men pick up their third championship and first since 2019. Biola Women's Cross Country won five Golden State Athletic Conference titles, so this is league championship number six in their program history.

To make things even sweeter, both Biola teams finished one spot ahead of their archrival, Azusa Pacific. Biola's men came into this one ranked behind both Azusa Pacific (no. 2) and Fresno Pacific (no. 6) in the most recent regional rankings.

This allowed the Cougars to enter the weekend as the favorite on the men's side, but a late pass from Jerry Baltzer helped Biola edge the Azusa side by just one singular point (41-42). 

"The men ran their best and really gutted it out," said Henning. "Today was a testament to their character and I was most impressed to see them never give up and go all the way to the line."

"It went perfectly- everything we were trying to do," said Benjamin White. "To win as a team too, this is the best race in my life."

Collectively, Biola's top-7 runners made up seven spots in the running order over the final split. Every single one of those spots would prove pivotal the way the final scoring worked out. Ryan Todd and Jerry Baltzer each paced the late push, passing four runners each as they both recorded top-7 finishes.

Part of their success could be contributed to White as well, as the winner's blistering pace early on contributed to tiring out the other top runners and helped set up the late passes.

Biola were the heavy favorites on the women's side as the No. 13 team in all of NCAA Division II. The 6k race played out to drive that home as Ruiz led her Eagles to a dominant win over APU (36-52) and the rest of the field. 

"I am super proud of this team. Hopefully we can carry this momentum to regionals," said Ruiz. "I am exited to see what this team can do." Biola just leapfrogged Chico State in the regional rankings to sit second just behind Stanislaus State.

The women's championship comes after a long wait stewing on just missing out on the 2021 team title. At last year's event Head Coach Sean Henning's team finished just one point behind champions, Academy of Art.

Things were extremely close during the 6k race in the fight for the individual title. Azusa Pacific's Eline Pinter was identified throughout the lead-up to the race as the favorite, and she held the lead just before the finish line in this one.

Ruiz had a 2-second lead over Pinter for most of a race, but Pinter managed to pass Ruiz during the final split and held a comfortable advantage as the top runners entered the finish shoot. In her mind, Ruiz began to think a second-straight second-place finish was in her future.

However, Pinter pulled up a bit just before passing over the mats and opened the door for Biola's sophomore sensation to slide in past her left elbow and win the race by an unfathomable two-tenths of a second. Ruiz crossed the line with a 21:27.8 to get the victory.

"At first I thought I was going to have to settle for second again," said Ruiz. "But I felt God calling me to use everything I had and give it all I had because you never know. I was able to get it at the last second."

All of Biola's seven scoring runners placed inside of the top-14 on the women's side and inside the top-25 in the men's 8k. The women accomplished another impressive feat, placing all 10 of its competitors earned All-PacWest recognition for finishing inside the top 21. "The feat has never been done before in the conference, so offering up a performance like this is a testament to the depth on this team," commented Henning.

Benjamin White's victory in the men's race was more straightforward than his teammate Ruiz's. 

The grad transfer held between a five- to 10-second advantage all throughout the race and beat Fresno Pacific's Bryan Banuelos by 5 seconds when all was said and done. White's winning mark was 24:22.9. Banuelos finished third in last year's race when Fresno Pacific took the top-3 spots and dominated the men's event.

"It means so much," said White. "This is by far the best team I've been on. Not just in terms of speed, but also the people."

Although each team accomplished a major goal on Saturday, the work is not done. "We can enjoy the moment but then settle in and get back to work. We need to grind and refocus to keep our humility to work hard in preparation for regionals." 

Henning understands the challenge ahead, as the PacWest Champions now set their sights for the NCAA DII West Regional Championships set for November 19 in Billings, Montana.
The races were unequivocally considered to be total team efforts to get the job done. Biola's runners ended up earning 16 All-PacWest honors. See below for the full listing of those earning league recognition.

All-PacWest First Team
Lynette Ruiz - 1st - 21:27.8
Benjamin White - 1st - 24:22.9
Jerry Baltzer - 3rd - 24:29.0
Grace Catena - 6th - 21:37.4
Ryan Todd - 7th - 24:45.2

All-PacWest Second Team
Bethany Mapes - 8th - 21:49.4
Ellie Stetina - 10th - 21:55.6
Lolo Landrith - 11th - 21:59.8
Hannah Champness - 12th - 22:00.8
Ryan Sorensen - 13th - 25:06.3
Britta Holmberg - 14th - 22:08.0

All-PacWest Third Team
Haleigh Guerrero - 16th - 22:11.7
Brady DeHaven - 17th - 25:24.2
Aidan Tomasini - 18th - 25:24.4
Karis Brown - 18th - 22:13.8
Maggie Williams - 20th - 22:31.2