SAN LEANDRO, Calif.--The Biola University men’s and women’s cross country teams took the bus to travel from their home in southern California to the Bay Area for the Pacific West Conference Cross Country Championships in San Leandro, Calif.

It’s a good thing that they did, because lugging all of the hardware home that they won on Saturday would have been difficult to stash in the overhead bin of a plane.

For the first time in conference history, one school took home all the trophies. The Eagles won the men’s and women’s team titles and Biola’s Benjamin White and Lynette Ruiz were the individual winners on a cool, misty morning.

Two of those results were not completely clear until a few moments after the race was over. The Biola men edged Azusa Pacific for the team trophy by just one point, and Ruiz nipped APU’s Eline Pinter at the finish line by two tenths of a second.

It was the first-ever PacWest title for the Biola women, and the third for the men. Ruiz won her first crown after finishing second last year, and White sprinted to his trophy as a grad senior after transferring to Biola this year.

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS, 8K, OYSTER BAY REGIONAL PARK
Benjamin White had a plan, and as it turns out, he executed it perfectly.

White took the lead by the second loop of the eight kilometer course and put the hammer down, leaving a pack of 20 runners to chase him.

They never would. The graduate senior, who came to Biola this year from Division III Whitter, won the race going away with a time of 24.22.9, five seconds ahead of Fresno Pacific’s Bryan Banuelos (24:25.8) and Eagle teammate Jerry Baltzer (24:29.0).

Balzter just nosed out FPU’s Xavier Smith (24:29.3) at the finish line for third place, which turned out to be the difference maker in the final team tally, with the Eagles coming in with 41 points and APU 42.

“I took the lead on the first hill,” White said afterwards. “I always try and take the lead early because my strength is endurance, not speed. I am not the fastest guy out here, so my plan was to wear the field down and break their spirit.”

The plan worked to perfection.

White and Biola head coach Sean Henning could also be thankful for Baltzer’s effort to finish one point less than they would have otherwise. The Eagles also grabbed the seventh spot (Ryan Todd), 13^th (Ryan Sorenson) and 17^th (Brady DeHaven) to account for the 41 points.

Azusa Pacific, looking for its first PacWest title in men’s cross country, just missed. Nixon Korir (24:33.6) was fifth and Cougar Salvador Capeetillo (24:41.7) was sixth. APU also claimed the ninth (Felix Perrier), tenth (Dider Sandoval) and 12^th spots (Riley Burns), but it turned out to be just one point shy.

Fresno Pacific was close as well with 53 team points, crossing the line in places 2-4-11-14-22. Concordia (115), host Academy of Art (153), Dominican (173), Hawaii Pacific (207), Holy Names (215) and Chaminade (247) rounded out the team scores.

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS, 6K, OYSTER BAY REGIONAL PARK
The Biola women won the team title in easier fashion than the Eagle men did, 36-52 over Azusa Pacific, but Lynette Ruiz’s claim to PacWest Champion came in her final step of the race.

Ruiz, a sophomore who finished second at the 2021 championships, was passed on the final corner by one of the other prerace favorites, Eline Pinter of Azusa Pacific. Pinter an accomplished short distance runner, appeared to have the race won coming down the final shute.

“I thought that when she passed me, I was looking at second place again,” Ruiz said right after the race. “I didn’t quit, but I wasn’t sure that I could catch her.

“But my teammates were encouraging me and I felt empowered by them and by God and pretty soon I was closing the gap and just gave it all I had. I got her on the last step I think, and only then did I believe what just happened.”

Ruiz’s official time of the 6K course was 21:27.8, with Pinter coming in at 21:28.0. Concordia’s Porshe Eisemann was third (21:34.4), APU’s Briseida Garcia Meza for fourth (21:35.4) and Cougar freshman Leia Jones was fifth (21:36.3).

The Eagles claimed their first-ever women’s title on the strength of having five of their runners in the top 11. Overall, they actually had seven of the first 14 runners to cross the line. Grace Catena (sixth), Bethany Mapes (eighth), Ellie Stetina (tenth) and Lauren Landrith (eleventh) rounded out the scoring spots for head coach Henning.

The Cougars had three of the top five spots in finishing 2-4-5-22-25. Concordia was third (76), followed by Fresno Pacific (93), Point Loma (135), Academy of Art (136), Hawaii Pacific (234), Chaminade (257), Hawaii Hilo (279), Dominican (281) and Holy Names (292).

Top seven runners in each race earn First Team All-Pacific West Conference honors. The next seven (8-14) are Second Team honorees, and 15-21 can claim Third Team All-PacWest certificates. 

This year, the Pacific West Conference special awards (Runner of the Year, Coach of the Year, etc.) will be voted on and awarded after the national championship meet in early December. 

Next up for a number of PacWest teams is the NCAA West Regional Championships, to be held Nov. 19 in Billings, Mont.

Final men's and women's team and individual results