FRESNO, Calif.---The Biola track & field teams had a strong start to the 2025 PacWest Championships. Biola competed in 27 events on Friday and had five athletes earn All-PacWest honors.

The Eagles' women concluded the first day in third place with 41 points and the men were in fourth, also with 41 points. Both BU's men and women trailed CUI by six points in the team standings at the end of the first day.

Track Events
Three athletes earned track podium finishes. Lynette Ruiz and Melt von Molendorff won PacWest titles in the 10k. Ruiz placed first of 22 athletes with her time of 36:15.18. Von Molendorff crossed the finish line first of 21 runners with his quick time of 30:26.39. Aislin Taylor placed second in the 10k with her personal best time of 36:19.22.

Six other Eagles recorded points in their events including: Jaina Kang in the women's 3000 steeplechase (4th, 11:16.41), Karis Brown in the women's 3000 steeplechase (8th, 11:31.59), Jeremiah Echeverria in the men's 3000 steeplechase (4th, 9:32.68), Jan Kuncický in the men's 3000 steeplechase (5th, 9:39.64), Mason Hedger in the men's 3000 steeplechase (8th, 9:51.01) and Ryan Todd in the men's 10k (6th, 30:46.19).

Echeverria, Kuncický and Hedger all recorded personal bests in the 3000m steeplechase.

Biola had athletes advance to finals in 10 of the 14 preliminary events they competed in. There were three events where BU had all their athletes who participated qualify for finals including the women's 1500, women's 100 hurdles and women's 400 hurdles. 

Matthew Kaloustian, Ebose Omofoma, Hannah Hanson, Joley Sproul and Joshua Widdows advanced to the finals in two events.

Field Events
The Eagles took on eight field events today and recorded points in six of the eight. Autumn Murray and Aidan Erickson led BU's field crew with podium finishes. Murray was All-PacWest and third in the long jump with a mark of 5.68m and Erickson was All-PacWest and third in the pole vault with his mark of 4.36m.

Biola's men recorded the most points in javelin. Elias Voris collected five points with his fourth place finish (52.58m) and Braeden Marsolini added four with his fifth place finish (51.40m).

BU's women recorded the most points in the long jump. Autumn Murray led with her third place finish which translated to six points and Omofoma added a point with her eighth place finish (5.44m).

Six other Eagles collected points in their events including: A.J. Antonio in the men's long jump (7th, 6.82m), Jack Ferrence in the men's pole vault (8th, 3.91m), Reanna Maroon in the women's pole vault (6th, 3.44m), Hope Willis in the women's javelin (6th, 38.58m) and Faith Winningham in the women's hammer throw (5th, 47.85m). Willis and Winningham both PR'd in their events. 

Decathlon
Ferrence had a fantastic start to the decathlon, ending the day in first place with 3520 points. Ferrence won three of the five events he participated in including the 100 dash (11.05), long jump (6.45m) and high jump (1.80m). He also had PR's in the 100m dash and long jump.

Additionally, he placed third in the shot put (11.46m) and second in the 400 dash (50.69).

Biola will finish the PacWest Championships tomorrow Saturday, April 26 at the FPU Track.