SEATTLE, Wash. --- You have not seen the last of the BU cross country team in 2022, as the team has made it to the highest level of postseason play. The women's squad will compete on Friday at the NCAA DII National Championships and will be joined by Benjamin White from the men's squad, who qualified as an individual.

In his eighth year at the helm, Sean Henning saw his men's and women's cross country squads shine in the postseason. Both teams won the PacWest conference crown and competed in the NCAA DII West Regional Championships. At regionals, the women's team took third to earn the bid to nationals, while the men took sixth with a fourth place individual finish from White which was good enough to have a spot in Seattle's big race.

"I'm very excited for our women and Ben to race on Friday. They are both ready," said Henning.

Their appearance at the NCAA Championships will be a first for the women's program. The team put together an incredible season and will send its top seven runners to compete with the best in the nation.

"For the women, this team has done so well throughout the course of the entire year and I'm extremely excited to see them run their best race of the year on Friday," commented Henning. "They are ready and I'm confident it will all come together and they will execute a great race plan and give their best effort."

The team ended the season ranked 14th in the USTFCCCA National Poll, while being one of the youngest teams on the course. In the regionals race, freshman Bethany Mapes posted the top finish for BU, clocking a time of 21:27.42 for eighth place.

Including Mapes, a trio of Eagles reached All-Region qualification standards. Grace Catena also made the cut in 17th and the PacWest Champion Lynette Ruiz also slid in with a 25th place finish.

Despite the added pressure of the big race, the Eagles will keep their focus to run at their best. "We have tried not to hold ourselves to outside standards all year long, so I don't plan on changing that now. I believe in these girls, and my goal is to see them together, fully trust in the abilities they have, and give God their absolute best," said Henning.

As a team, the BU men placed sixth at regionals two weeks ago. The group was led by the usual suspect, Benjamin White.

"Ben is capable of being an All-American," said Henning. "I'm excited to see him pursue that goal. He is very fit, and at regionals he didn't run very tactically smart. We are hoping to clean that up and run a more patient race while still asserting himself with the leaders."

White joined Biola as a graduate transfer prior to the 2022 campaign and made an immediate impact. He won his first race of the year and then nabbed the Individual PacWest Championship. White took fourth in the regional race, which qualified him for nationals in Seattle.

"I'm excited to watch Ben over the last 5K of the race, I really think he can do something special if he times it just right," added Henning.

The men's race will take off at 10:00 am in Seattle, Washington on Friday morning and the women will follow at 11:15 am. Live results will be provided here and live video will be available here.

"We would love to come back with a couple of All-Americans and a top 10 team finish, but most importantly we want to use this as a platform to honor God and represent Christ in our words and actions while competing at the highest level." - Henning.