IRVINE, Calif.---A great Biola Invitational translated to three PacWest Conference weekly awards for the Biola Cross Country Program. Both teams were named PacWest Team of the Week and Melt von Molendorff was the PacWest's Runner of the Week.

"The men's team did a fantastic job executing the race plan on Friday and they are definitely moving in the right direction as a team," stated head coach Sean Henning. "The women did a really good job staying patient the first couple of miles, we moved up well that last mile and did a great job racing against the number one team in the country in the NAIA in The Masters. I think we probably edge them slightly if we are racing all out."

Biola's men were the Biola Invitational Champions, leading the field with 28 points. The Eagles led the second-place team, The Master's, by five points by capturing places 3-4-5-6 and 10. Von Molendorff was the first Eagle to cross the finish line, placing third overall (24:39.6) and he was followed by fourth place Aidan Tomasini (24:42.7), fifth place Rouxan le Roux (24:42.8), six place Charlie Bailey (24:43) and 10th place Jerry Baltzer (24:53.4).

Von Molendorff received the PacWest's Runner of the Week award for his team-leading showing at the Biola Invite. The Junior recorded a personal best time in the 8k and a Biola career-best finish.

Henning continued, "Melt is doing a great job this season. He looks so poised and comfortable with everything he has done so far, completely in control. Friday was a great step in the right direction for him. He ran extremely controlled and smart the first few miles and then closed the gap up, the second two miles. He shut down the last couple hundred meters and I can't wait to see how he races next."

The Eagles' women earned Team of the Week for their second-place finish at the Biola Invite. BU had three women finish in the top 10 of the 5k. Bethany Mapes led the pack, finishing third with a personal best time of 17:18.5. Lynette Ruiz finished shortly after, claiming fourth place (17:27.1) and Aislin Taylor took fifth (17:37.1).

Biola competes next on Saturday, September 21 at the UC Riverside Invitational in Riverside, California.