IRVINE, Calif. --- The PacWest Women's Cross Country crown was successfully defended by the Biola Eagles on Saturday morning. The BU squad delivered in the conference championships for the third-consecutive year, completing a remarkable three-peat in a comfortable fashion. The BU men led off with a strong day on the course and took second place.

"I thought the ladies did a fantastic job of showing confidence after a tough race two weeks ago," said Head Coach Sean Henning. "They handled themselves with poise and humility. What a blessing (to three-peat), it's a testament to our athletes."

Lynette Ruiz and Bethany Mapes paced the squad on the course, going second and third, respectively. The duo of veterans led the team to victory, as the group finished with just 29 points. The lead was large for BU, defeating second place, Concordia, by 47 points.

Aislin Taylor showed out in her first conference championship race, grabbing fifth place at 21:12.6. Ruiz (20:41.6), Mapes (20:55.4), and Taylor each earned First Team All-PacWest placements with Ruiz and Mapes each reaching all-conference for the fourth and third time in their careers, respectively.

Freshman Jaina Kang nabbed a Second Team All-PacWest position in eighth place. Kang clocked in a time of 21:24.5 and was followed by Hailey Wurzbach at 21:35.3 in 11th place. Karis Brown marked the sixth all-conference Eagle, landing in 14th place at 21:51.0. 

"They were courageous," added Henning. "We had girls, like Aislin, who put herself right in it. We had Hailey and Jaina that were super courageous on that second loop. Karis exuded a lot of confidence as well on the way to a second-team all-conference spot. Bethany and Lolo have done a great job leading the group and Lynette has been a great leader as a senior, as well."

"The guys did good. I'm super proud of them," said Henning. "APU just had a really good day so you got to give credit where credit is due."

The Eagles' men's team competed to the end but took second place on the day with 44 points. The team only trailed the Cougars by 15 points, who took home the title for a second-straight year. BU was also in a battle with CUI through the first few splits but broke away in the second half of the race.

Bronze medalist, Melt von Molendorff, was the leader for BU, claiming third place with a time of 24:04.5. Aidan Tomasini also came home with a First Team All-PacWest finish in sixth place with a personal-best mark of 24:12.1.

The reigning individual winner, Jerry Baltzer, snuck into the top-10, clocking in at 24:22.4. Jacob Shirota and Charlie Bailey went back-to-back in 12th and 13th to round out the scorers for BU. The trio of Baltzer, Shirota and Bailey all claimed Second Team All-PacWest placements. Rouxan le Roux also hit all-conference marks in 18th place at 24:47.9.

The second place showing for the BU men maintained the team's streak of seven years of top-three team finishes at the conference meet.

Both teams will head to Billings, Montana for the NCAA West Regionals to continue postseason play on Saturday, November 9.

"The men have already bounced back and are ready to go for regionals," said Henning. "Just got to move on and get ready for the next one and the extra two kilometers will be good for these guys. On the other side, this was a really good day for the ladies and I think they will be confident in two weeks."