MONMOUTH, Ore. --- The BU women's cross country squad continued its impressive trend of improving NCAA DII West Regionals placements. On Saturday, the Eagles finished in second place and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA DII National Championships. The BU team was led by the regionals runner-up with Susi Bruennig taking second place on the individual leaderboard.

"I was very pleased with the women and their performance today," commented Head Coach Sean Henning. "We wanted to stick our noses in it and hopefully win the race, and we did just that."

On the team's fourth-straight appearance at the west regionals championships, BU posted its best finish as a team. The Eagles tallied 86 points and trailed the leader in Western Washington by 11.

All five scorers grabbed top-50 placements, including two top-10 finishers and four top-20 finishers. All four top-20 finishers reached the All-West Region Team, including Bruennig, Bethany Mapes, Britta Holmberg, and Lynette Ruiz. The team scored a team time of 1:46.56, which was the fastest amongst all 24 teams at the event.

Bruennig led the Eagles for the first time this year and took advantage of the big stage. The junior transfer crossed the finish line at 20:33.6 to grab silver, while only trailing the lead runner by four seconds. "Susi had a fantastic day and almost won the race, only losing to a girl by four seconds who finished 8th in the nation last year!" said Henning. In the final 2k split, Bruennig jumped three positions to move from fifth to second. 

Bethany Mapes picked up where she left off last year and saw her second-straight eighth place showing at regionals. The sophomore secured her top-10 placement with a time of 21:05.9.

Lynette Ruiz and Britta Holmberg were each amongst the 20 best runners in the west. Holmberg grabbed 15th place at 21:27.6, while Ruiz landed in 18th at 21:32.0. The duo took advantage of the last 2k split, overcoming eight combined positions between the two of them.

Lolo Landrith rounded out the scorers as the fifth finisher for BU. The sophomore took 48th place with a mark of 22:17.4. 

Karis Brown and Ellie Stetina were not far behind their teammates in 60th and 62nd place, respectively.

The BU squad improved every split on Saturday, beginning the day in third place at 122 points after the 2k mark. At the 4k split, Biola cut off 25 points and moved into second place at 97 points two-thirds through the race. The final split saw an improvement of another 11 points for BU, as the team held on to second place. 

"The girls easily outdistanced third on the day, which is no small feat," added Henning. "They should be very proud of themselves for finishing second and securing an automatic bid to nationals!"

Biola will now shift its focus towards the NCAA DII National Championships set for November 18 in Joplin, Missouri.