Biola looked sharp in grabbing fifth place in the 6K invitational section at UC Riverside, finishing in front of a slew of Division I squads in the 24-team field. Bethany Mapes was the top PacWest runner, with Point Loma's Maddie Reeves not too far behind. Fresno Pacific won the 5K race, with Aly Chaves finishing in third overall.

2025 Results/Schedule
2025 USTFCCCA Regional and National Polls
 
RUNNER OF THE WEEK: Biola's Bethany Mapes, Sr., 5-3, El Cajon, Calif.                                                                        
Biola's Bethany Mapes, one of the top runners in the PacWest, looked every bit the part at the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday. Mapes clocked a time of 20:39 on the 6K course, finishing in eighth place while claiming the top PacWest time among those runners in the race. Mapes, a three-time All-PacWest runner who finished third at the 2024 conference championships, was less than a second behind UC Irvine's Kaia Schmidt and four seconds ahead of Point Loma's Maddie Reeves. 

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Biola Eagles                                                                                                                                        
Biola finished in the upper eschelon of the UC Riverside Invitational, notching a fifth place finish in a loaded field of 24 Division I, II, III and NAIA teams. Bethany Mapes led the way (see above), with Hailey Wurzbach next in 24th (21:00). Madison Ebright (21:12), freshiman Elizabeth Kurtz (21:17) and Jaina Kang (21:21) rounded out the Biola top five. "We raced some pretty solid schools, including a few that are ranked in our region," said BU head coach Sean Henning. "I thought they raced really hard and that means a lot."

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: As mentioned earlier, Point Loma's Maddie Reeves ran an impressive race at UCR with a ninth-place time of 20:43, topping her own Sea Lion school record time in the 6K of 20:48...Point Loma finished 14th, with the same team score at Concordia (374). The Golden Eagles' top runner was Ania Kapsutka who finished in 23rd place with a time of 21:00...The University of San Francisco won the team title (45) and had the top runner in Jess Spilsbury (20:19)...In the UCR 5K race, Fresno Pacific won the crown with 64 team points, just edging CS Monterey Bay (67) and Claremont-Mudd- Scripps (71). Sunbird Aly Chavez finished third (17:52) behind a pair of junior college runners with teammate Julissa Avila crossing the line in eighth (18:00). Mattie Whipple (18:15), Gabby Ramirez (18:27) and Julia Martinez (18:36) rounded out the Fresno Pacific scoring...Jessup and Dominican raced against each other on a three-mile campus course in Rocklin, with the Penguins gaining the upper hand by a 24-42 count. Angela Gladysh of Jessup won the race (18:43) with Domincan's Bella Bueno finishing second (19:18)...On Oahu, on the course that will host the PacWest Championships in less than a month, Hawai`i Hilo won the battle of the islands with 20 points, while Chaminade had 49 and Hawai`i Pacific had 51. Hilo's Kathleen Raab took first on the 6K course in 22:37, finishing way ahead of teammate Sequoia Gonzales (23:13). Chaminade's Nikijii Dayse was third (23:19), while HPU's top runner was Carly Dyer in eighth place (25:49). 

LOOKING AHEAD: One big race is on the PacWest schedule this coming week, Saturday (Oct. 4) at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational. It will be a good field of top Division III teams plus PacWest challengers Biola, Azusa Pacific, Westmont, and Vanguard. Additionally, Dominican will run on Friday at the Pacific Invitational in Lodi, Calif.