FRESNO, Calif. --- The 2023 PacWest Women's Cross Country Championships came and went on Saturday morning in Fresno, California and the Eagles led the whole way. Biola captured the championship with all five scorers in the top-15. The conference crown made for back-to-back titles for the Eagles.

"I was really proud of the ladies for stepping up and defending their title. That's no easy task, and hasn't been done since 2017," said head coach Sean Henning. 

The BU squad maintained its streak of six-straight conference top-three finishes, while adding to its streak of winning the championship to two. 

Biola compiled 40 points on the day with finishers at 3, 4, 6, 12, and 15. The team beat out second place, Concordia, by 11 points and third place, Azusa Pacific, by 23 points. Each split saw the Eagles in the lead, as they led from start to finish.

"This was actually a pretty average TEAM day for us, meaning that we had a couple of great days, a few average days, and a couple of off days. Despite that, the ladies were still able to show off their team depth and come back with a great win," added Henning.

Bethany Mapes was the leader of the BU pack, nabbing third with a time of 21:01.6. The sophomore was in a winning position after two splits but fell back to bronze in the final stretch but still ended with a personal-best time in the 6k. 

Susi Bruennig came through next at 21:04.5. Bruennig maintained a consistent and strong pace to land in fourth on Saturday. The third Eagle in the top six was Lynette Ruiz. The junior grabbed sixth place at 21:19.8 to round out the top three for BU.

Britta Holmberg added to her strong season with a 12th place finish on Saturday. She posted a time of 21:45.1. Karis Brown rounded out the scorers for BU, finishing in 15th place at 21:54.2. The sophomore improved her position in each split, jumping six spots in the final 15 minutes of the race.

Henning was also impressed with Ella Voris, who stepped up for the Eagles. "Maybe the best jump today came from freshman Ella Voris. The last girl to make the roster for conference, Ella had a huge day and missed All-Conference honors by 1 second!"

The Eagles finished the race on Saturday with a team time of 1:47.06, which was a whole minute faster than all other teams. 

"All glory be to God, we will recover and regroup, and continue the build to regionals," said Henning.

Biola will now shift its focus to NCAA DII West Regionals on Saturday, November 4 in Monmouth, Oregon.