IRVINE, Calif. – Fueled by a solid start to the season, the Concordia University Irvine men's cross country team scampered off with a conference weekly award out of the gate.

Concordia shares the title of PacWest Men's Cross Country Team of the Week with Biola as both squads finished in fifth place in their respective first meets of the fall.

The Golden Eagles were led by Owen Stults who placed 19th overall at the Coyote Challenge this past Saturday. The sophomore from Lake Stevens, Washington paced Concordia with the highest finish of his young career and averaged just under 5 minutes and 12 seconds per mile. He also shaved off about 45 seconds off his previous time at last year's Coyote Challenge, showing great improvement to set the tone for this season.

Team SAAC representative Spencer Handorf was second on the squad and finished 24th overall, coming in just about 15 seconds behind Stults. Sophomore Logan Jones and freshman Eddie Hocking went back-to-back and scored 29 and 30 points respectively. Bothell, Washington native Quinten Brooks – another freshman – was the fifth Golden Eagle across the finish line, followed closely by teammate Nathan Nguyen.

Concordia has a ton of freshmen and sophomores showing promise early on and the squad gets another chance to showcase its skills in less than two weeks.

Next up is a date in Riverside for the UC Riverside Invitational on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 19.

CLICK HERE for the full CUI men's cross country schedule