Competing in the Manny Bautista Cross Country Invitational on Friday at NTC park in San Diego, the Cerritos College women's cross country team finished in sixth place out of 17 teams with 187 team points. The team will have one more invitational before the South Coast Conference Championships, as they will run in the Bronco Invitational at Baylands Park in Santa Clara next Friday.

Of the 142 runners at the meet, Diana Raya Perez (Norwalk HS) was the first Falcon to complete the 3-mile course, as she was clocked in 20:42.9, which put her in 32nd place overall. She held off a pair of runners at the finish line, which included teammate Evelyn Mejia (Norwalk HS), whose time of 20:47.3 earned her 33rd place on the day.

 

Not too far behind, Lila Palmer (Long Beach Poly HS) crossed the finish line 30 seconds later to come in 46th place with a time of 21:13.2, with Ariel Alvarez (Firebaugh HS) seven seconds behind her with a clocking of 21:20.4, good for 48th place overall. Rounding out the team scoring for Cerritos was Jayla Barnwell (Warren HS), who finished just ahead of teammate Kimberly Ibarra (Warren HS) for fifth on the team. Barnwell finished the race in 21:28.4, which put her in 52nd place, with Ibarra placing 53rd in a time of 21:29.4.

Also running for Cerritos were Claudia Rios (Paramount HS; 22:06.9; 65th place) and Kaitlyn Macias (La Mirada HS; 24:11.3; 95th place).