MONMOUTH, Ore.--- The Biola cross country teams delivered strong performances at the NCAA Division II West Regional Championships at Ash Creek Preserve, Bethany Mapes had a historic individual finish.

Mapes was the NCAA DII West Regional Women's Individual Champion. She finished the 6k course with a time of 20:29.4, 3.23 seconds faster than the second place finisher from Chico State. Mapes, who finished seventh at the West Regional in 2024 and was eighth in 2022, becomes the first PacWest NCAA West Region Champ since 2004. She also became the first west region champion in the history of Biola's women's cross country program.

"Bethany ran a tactically flawless race today," stated head coach Sean Henning. "She got out assertively and put herself with the leaders, stayed patient and poised and settled with the group for as long as possible, then made her move with about a half mile to go and made it with authority. Excellent execution and I couldn't be more proud!"

Hailey Wurzbach was the next Eagle to cross the finish line. She secured her highest career finish at the championship, placing 27th with a time of 21:17.6.

Maddie Ebright was BU's third runner to complete the race. The Graduate Student placed 37th overall with a time of 21:25.2.

Rounding out Biola's top seven were Elizabeth Kurtz (42nd, 21:30.2), Claire Lesiw (57th, 21:48.9), Jaina Kang (69th, 21:54.1) and Karis Brown (84th, 22:12.6).

Biola's women finished fourth with a team score of 163 and were the highest-ranked team from the PacWest Conference.  Ahead of BU was first place Chico State, second place Cal Poly Pomona and third place Western Washington. 

"The women actually had a tough team day today," shared Henning. "We did not get out well as a team and were fighting our way up for most of the race. The teams that beat us all put themselves at a better spot through the first 2 km and we just couldn't catch up. Luckily, we have a great resume across the season and should be in a great spot for nationals, where we will plan on being much better and way more assertive as a squad."

Melt von Molendorff led BU's men with a 16th place finish in the 10k with a time of 30:16.87. Freshman Grant Miller was Biola's next finisher, placing 32nd with a time of 30:44.38.

Trailing Miller was Joshua Klausmeier (49th, 31:16.52), Marcin Stanglewicz (52nd, 31:22.28), Aiden Burr (57th, 31:28.40) and Jeremiah Echeverria (91st, 32:31.02).

BU's men finished seventh with a team score of 206 and were also the highest-ranked team from the PacWest Conference. Ahead of BU was Chico State, Western Washington, Cal Poly Pomona, Alaska Anchorage, Northwest Nazarene and Cal State San Marcos.

"The men had a pretty good day as a team," concluded Henning. "While we had goals of finishing fourth or fifth, seventh was fairly realistic as well. Six out of the seven runners we're here for the first time ever, there's definitely a learning curve. We were hoping Melt could qualify individually, but unfortunately, he had a tough day today and battled physically throughout the race. He fought hard and still finished as an all-region runner, which we are proud of. He's disappointed as you knows it was not a great day for him, but one day doesn't define his incredible season."

The top three teams at the NCAA DII West Regional automatically advance to the NCAA DII National Championships. That being said, the Eagles will wait to see if they will advance when the NCAA selection show airs on Monday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET).