Women's Cross Country

Biola Goes Back-to-Back to Win WXC Awards

The Eagles finish third of 30 teams at UCR, and Jaina Kang is the top Division II runner in the field.

Biola claims the Team of the Week and Runner of the Week for the second consecutive time after a very impressive outing at the UC Riverside Invitational. The Eagles finished third of 30 teams, and defeated 15 Division I teams. Jaina Kang gets another certificate as well after finishing seventh in a field of 269 runners.

2026 Results/Schedule
2026 USTFCCCA National and Regional Polls
 
RUNNER OF THE WEEK: Biola’s Jaina Kang, Jr., 5-7, Langley, British Columbia                          
Biola’s Jaina Kang topped her impressive 2026 debut with an even better performance at the UC Riverside Invitational last Saturday. Running against a talented and loaded field, the Canadian finished seventh overall with a 6K time of 20:35, a career best for the junior and 19 seconds faster than she ran the week previous. The 2025 PacWest Freshman of the Year was the top Division II runner in the field of mostly Division I athletes, with 269 total racers in the mix.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Biola Eagles                                                                                                        
Biola was on point again with a third place finish at the UCR Invitational, listing only behind two Division I teams. There were 30 teams in the 6K field, mostly Division I schools, won by UC Irvine (65 points) with CSU Fullerton second (152) and the Eagles very close behind with 161 points. Jaina Kang led the BU runners (see above) with a seventh place crossing, but the Eagles also had two other top 25 runners in Hailey Wurzbach (20:45) and Claire Lesiw (20:47). In the process of bagging the third spot, the Eagles defeated 15 other Division I teams.
 
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: There were a slew of races in Riverside, with Biola placing third in the top race. Concordia was in that same event and finished 12th in the 30-team field paced by Ryann Smith (21:01), Brianna Hayes (21:08) and Ania Kapustka (21:10). Vanguard was 19th overall with a 34th place finisher in Kaitlyn Smith (20:59)…There was also a 5K race in Riverside where Biola’s second team competed, along with Point Loma, Westmont, Concordia and Vanguard. Westmont’s Sofia Hernandez was the top PacWest runner in ninth place with a time of 18:09.

LOOKING AHEAD: It’s a light week for PacWest teams with only two races on the schedule. The three Hawaii schools will compete at the Hawaii Country Club on Saturday, while Jessup will also host a meet on their own campus, the site of the PacWest Championships in November.