UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. --- The Eagles made the trip to the National Championships and saw a strong performance in the opening race with Benjamin White carrying the torch for BU. The BU women's cross country team took to the course later in the morning and grabbed 26th place in their first appearance at the NCAA DII National Championship.

"Tough day for our team today," commented head coach Sean Henning after the race. "I'm proud of both of our teams this year. They did a great job of focusing on utilizing their talents and opportunities that the Lord has given them to the best of their ability."

The BU women saw the national level for the first time on Friday and came ready to tackle the cold, wet northwest weather. 

A pair of freshmen in Bethany Mapes and Ellie Stetina led the way for Biola through the first 600 meters, as the team held 23rd place at the first split. The course was thick with competition, as 263 women and 34 teams faced the challenge at nationals.

Mapes continued to shine for Biola, leading the team throughout the day. Mapes peaked at 85th place at the 1mile mark, after moving up 24 spots in 1k stretch. The freshman went on to finish the race in 100th place, posting a time of 22:04.5.

Lynette Ruiz ran a different race, starting closer to the back of the pack and gradually moving her way up. The sophomore overtook multiple competitors in every split in the race to move up 72 spots from the 600m mark to the finish line.

Ruiz capped off her race with a 3:38.2 1k split, jumping eight placements to finish in 117th. The PacWest champion logged a time of 22:12.7 for the race and tallied 96 points for BU.

The next finisher for Biola was Lolo Landrith. The freshman modeled consistency on Friday, maintaining a solid pace from start to finish. Her lowest split was in 185th place but she stayed the course and worked her way to 167th by the time she got to the finish. Landrith posted a time of 22:50.4 on Friday to score 144 points for BU.

Stetina came in next for Biola, nabbing 177th with a time of 22:55.8. After the fast start, Stetina put together another strong stretch at the end, speeding past four runners in the last 1k with a split of 3:48.2.

Britta Holmberg was the final scorer for BU. The sophomore claimed 186th place and 161 points for Biola. The 2.4k mark was the turning point for Holmberg, who climbed the scoreboard in each and every split the rest of the way to finish with a time of 23:04.2.

Grace Catena was right on the heels of Holmberg at 23:05.7. The senior collected 189th place and was followed by Hannah Champness in 194th at 23:10.6.

As a team, BU compiled 639 points, which was good enough for 26th place in its first nationals appearance.

"The women had a really tough day. In these moments when the day doesn't go the way you wanted, you have to remember all the successes you had throughout the year and not dwell on the one day that didn't go well," said Henning. "The ladies are a top 15 team in the country when they run well, but it didn't happen today. However, they still won a conference championship, automatically qualified for NCAA nationals for the first time in program history, had a massive amount of personal bests and amazing finishes, ten all conference runners, three all regional runners, and nationals experience now. This will serve them well moving forward, and I guarantee you they learned a lot and will undoubtedly be better runners because of this experience."

In the men's race, White was further back than usual after the first split, sitting at 164th place through 1.2k meters. With nearly 300 runners in the field, the crowded course and wealth of talent gave White plenty of opportunity to move up quickly.

"Ben wasn't at 100% and was working through an injury. Unfortunately, it affected his ability to get out well and move like he would have liked to throughout the race," said Henning.

"He did however really fight hard to move up a ton and finish 73rd. I have no doubt that Ben is an All-American when he is healthy and firing on all cylinders. He will regroup and get ready to have an amazing track season."

Just 800 meters later, White already climbed 35 spots and found his groove on the course. 

The graduate transfer kept chipping away through every segment of the race, improving his placement in eight-of-10 splits. From the 3.8k and the 9k mark, White constantly sped past the field to climb 63 spots while maintaining split times between two and three minutes.

The day concluded with White in 73rd place with a time of 30:57.4. White's performance marked the best individual finish at the NCAA DII National Championship in program history, beating Gabe Plendcio who nabbed 75th in 2019.

"I saw great servant leadership, true sacrifice for others, deep commitment to a common goal, and a strong desire to honor the Lord with our abilities," said Henning. "This is just the start of something great and these teams have a lot to be grateful and excited for."