VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men and women's cross country teams each earned top five finishes in the Gold race at the Charles Bowles Invitational at Bush's Pasture Park in Salem, Ore., on Saturday morning.

Teams leaders Kerry Kazuta (24:51.51) and Sabrina Reeve (17:48.35) each notched personal bests as the T-Bird men finished third overall behind Kazuta's 21st place finish while the women were fourth overall thanks in large part to Reeve's 8th place standing.

"Both teams ran exceptionally well today," said UBC head coach Marek Jedrzejek. "This is definitely the toughest competition we will have all year before the NAIA Championships and we achieved our goal on both sides by running well and beating ranked teams."

The men finished third with 94 points behind Southern Oregon (41) and Embry-Riddle (49). All three of those teams are ranked in the NAIA Top 10 and should be in the mix come November for the national title.

Ben Thistlewood (25:00.47) was 28th overall for the men while rookie Luc Bruchet had another solid run in his young T-Bird career, finishing 34th with a time of 25:09.66.

Reeve led the UBC women past a slew of NAIA Top 25 teams and this weekend's result should see the T-Birds climb up the rankings quite swiftly.

Top ranked Azusa Pacific took the team title with 35 points and the only other schools to better UBC's 149 points were No. 4 Biola (39) and No. 8 Concordia (Calif.) (139).

Magie Woodward (18:04.39) just missed cracking the top 20 for the women with a 21st place result.

"Although I was really happy with how we ran, this meet was just another step in getting ready for Nationals," added Jedrzejek. "We need to keep on getting better and be in the best shape we can come November."