JOPLIN, Mo. --- At the pinnacle of NCAA DII cross country, Biola made its presence felt on Saturday morning. The group of seven Eagles hit the course at the NCAA DII National Championships and offered the best team finish in program history. Amongst a field of 34 teams, BU took 17th in the big race.

For the second-straight year, the Eagles made an appearance at the nationals race. The BU squad looked to make a splash, following a second place finish at regionals two weeks prior.

The team did not get out of the gates very quickly, except Susi Bruennig and Bethany Mapes. The dynamic duo took off and were in 16th and 42nd place, respectively, at the 1k split.

Throughout the first 5k of the race, Biola teetered between 13th and 14th place with roughly 400 points. Not much changed until the final 1k split, as the team dropped into 17th with a final tally of 457 points.

Bruennig gave another strong performance with a program-best individual placement at nationals. The transfer landed in 28th place with a time of 20:34.4, picking up a NCAA DII All-American award. The 6k time for Bruennig was just one second off her personal-best mark set at regionals earlier this year. 

Saving her best for the biggest moment, Mapes delivered in a huge way for BU. The sophomore claimed 45th place with a career-best time in the 6k. She crossed the finish line at 20:50.0 for her first sub-21 minute 6k and improved 55 spots from her finish at nationals last year.

Lynette Ruiz ran a different style race, starting further back but slowly working her way towards the front. The junior opened the race in 154th at the 1k mark but began her climb shortly after. At the next split, Ruiz had already jumped 15 spots and then took over 19 more positions before reaching the halfway point in the race.

Every split saw an improvement in Ruiz's placement, as the junior finished in 103rd with a time of 21:39.3.

Karis Brown added her score to the mix with a 180th placement. The sophomore was followed closely by teammate Lolo Landrith in 183rd, as the two finished at 22:18.0 and 22:21.4, respectively.

Ellis Stetina and Britta Holmberg rounded out the competitors for BU, nabbing 206th and 212th. The duo each posted sub-22:50 times.

The BU squad tallied a team time of 1:47:43.1, while averaging a time of 21:32.7 as a group.