SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For the second time in program history, Biola Men's Cross Country earned the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Division II National Championship meet. The Eagles returned to the site of that 2019 national championships at Arcade Creek Cross Country course and held their own on a cold, rainy day in Sacramento.

Biola was led by Aidan Tomasini as the Eagles went on the attack and finished 26th in the nation. Tomasini was Biola's top individual finisher with a time of 31:34.3. He was two seconds off his all-time best in the 10k.

Ryan Todd was next across the line for Biola. Todd ran a 31:45 flat and was part of a group of four consecutive Biola finishers to gain at least one place between the final split marker and the finish line. He moved up six spots to do his best to increase Biola's team standing.

Melt von Molendorff was next up for Biola, placing 13 spots back from Todd with a 31:54.4. The Eagles' top-5 was rounded out by Jerry Beltzer (32:02) and Jacob Shirota (32:15). 

The Eagles started out a bit slow, near the back of the pack, but then moved up and down throughout as the race went along before closing out at 26th, which was their highest placement of the day and one spot off of 2019's 25th-place finish.

Biola finished fourth among west region teams, with Western Washington having the best showing for the west. The Vikings finished 13th overall with their top runner inside the top-50 overall. Azusa Pacific had a surge of a performance to place 19th and Cal Poly Pomona was next in 21st.

The Eagles placed within 10 points of the 25th-place team, Nebraska-Kearney and were five points in front of the 27th-place finisher, Davis & Elkins. The spots made up by the late pushes from Todd, Von Molendorff, Baltzer and Shirota helped account for that spot in the team standings.

Rouxan Le Roux (32:49.7) and Charlie Bailey (33:50.6) rounded out the Eagles' individual finishers.  

For the first time ever, both the men and women's teams are competing at the NCAA Division II nationals together. Follow live results for the women's 11:15 a.m. race at https://results.leonetiming.com/xc.html?mid=7521.