Biola finished its final tune-up of the 2026 regular season in excellent fashion with an 8th place finish at the UC Riverside Highlander Classic, with Zach Elam winning the race as the top collegian in 23:42.
2026 Results/Schedule
2026 USTFCCCA National and Regional Polls
RUNNER OF THE WEEK: Biola’s Zach Elam, Grad., Corona, Calif.
Biola’s Zach Elam wins his fourth Runner of the Week award this season after winning the Highlander in 23:42. Elam finished 21 seconds ahead of the next collegiate runner, Ethan Smith of Grand Canyon. The grad transfer from the Univ. of San Francisco established a new PR by three seconds, set at USF in 2025. Elam’s four Runner of the Week awards this year equals the most of any runner in one season in PacWest history.
TEAM OF THE WEEK(s): Biola Eagles
Biola is the Team of the Week of again for the fourth time this year. The Eagles were eighth at the Highlander, led by
Zach Elam (see above) in his best race as a Biola Eagle. Not too far behind Elam was
Grant Miller in fifth place in 24:04. Miller shattered his previous PR by over 20 seconds.
James Rieckewald-Schmidt was next for BU (24:49), followed by
Aiden Burr (25:08) and
Brayden Lunetta (25:15) to complete Biola's scoring five. The Eagles totaled 199 points to take eighth overall, finishing ahead of Division I programs CSUN and UC Santa Barbara and as the second-highest Division II team in the field behind CSU San Marcos.
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: On Oahu,
Hawaii Pacific and
Chaminade ran a dual meet with HPU topping the Silverswords 19-36.
Drake Hanley of HPU won the 8K race in 31:22 with
Amari Lino of Chaminade second in 32:36.
LOOKING AHEAD: Friday is the end of the regular season before the PacWest Championships on Sunday, Nov. 8 in Rocklin at Jessup University. three teams will head to the John Elders Titan Classic at CSU Fullerton—Concordia, Vanguard, and Westmont, while Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade will race on the Big Island at the Hilo Invitational.