Fayetteville, Ark.---Running against some of the top cross country teams in the nation for the second straight meet, the Wayland Baptist women held their own, finishing 12th in a field of 38 at the Chile Pepper Festival, hosted Saturday morning by the University of Arkansas.

The Pioneers' top two runners, Caroline Karunde and Purity Biwott once again turned in impressive performances against elite competition, both finishing in the top eight.

Karunde, a sophomore, ran a 20:21, to finish fifth, while the freshman, Biwott, had a time of 20:40 for eighth place. Karunde shaved 12 seconds off her time from Oklahoma State's Cowboy Jamboree, and Biwott took 36 seconds off her finish from OSU.

Wayland coach Brian Whitlock was extremely pleased with his team, who was without the services of his number four and five runners, senior Kydia Echols and sophomore Diana Gutierrez. Echols is out for four-to-six weeks with a foot injury, while Gutierrez had to withdraw right before the start of Saturday's race with a sore hip.

"It was a successful meet and I believe it shows well for our program. There were several teams here ranked in the top 25 in Division I. Caroline and Purity both improved on their times from two weeks ago, and Selene [Lopez] and Katie [Roland] stepped up and did a great job."

Among the teams participating in the event were #10 Arkansas, which finished second just behind 29th-ranked Texas Tech. #14 Baylor and #23 Southern Methodist also competed and finished ahead of the WBU women, although Whitlock pointed out that his team, the only NAIA team in the field, was just 70 points in back of Baylor, which placed tenth at the festival.

The Pioneers finished ahead of such teams as Alabama, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Tulane and LSU.

Senior Erin Britton ran the 6K course in a time of 22:47 to finish in the top 100. Selene Lopez, a redshirt freshman, had a time of 23:17 and Katie Roland, a true freshman, completed the course in 23:37, both significant improvements over their times at Stillwater.

The Wayland women will return to "small school" competition next weekend at the NAIA Mid-States Classic, hosted by Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan. The Pioneers will be defending the team championship they won a year ago at Mid-States, and Karunde will attempt to defend her individual title.