With a strong blocking of runners at the top of their lineup, the Cerritos College women's cross country team finished in second place at the South Coast Conference Championships on Friday. The Falcons finished with 54 team points and trailed only Mt. San Antonio College, who came in first place with 27 team points. The team will now compete in the Southern California Championships, which will take place next Friday at Woodley Park in Van Nuys.

The first Cerritos runner to complete the 5K course at Hahamonga Park in Pasadena was sophomore Ariel Melendez (St. Paul HS; pictured, left), whose time of 19:03.59 put her in sixth place out of 63 total runners. Crossing the finish line three seconds apart were freshman Marylu Pulido (Whittier HS) and sophomore Stephanie Ruiz (Western HS), as they came in eighth and ninth places, respectively. Pulido posted a time of 19:20.18, while Ruiz was clocked in 19:23.49. Freshman Maria Orosco (Katella HS) turned in a time of 19:42.38 to come in 12th place on the day. The top four Falcon runners all earned all-conference recognition.

The fifth runner to finish up the team scoring was sophomore Jocelyn Orozco (Downey HS), who posted a time of 20:04.61, which put her in 20th place overall. The Falcons had six other runners on the course that day and they included Stephanie Perea (Downey HS; 30th place; 20:25.24), Janet Salazar (Paramount HS; 33rd place; 20:52.88), Joanna Bautista (Downey HS; 37th place; 21:29.65), Elsa Vazquez Vallin (Warren HS; 38th place; 21:37.22), Tiffany Hernandez (Warren HS; 46th place; 22:16.13) and Irubi Ramirez (Warren HS; 58th place; 25:16.28).