On Friday, the Cerritos College women's cross country team finished in ninth place at the Golden West Invitational, which was held at Central Park in Huntington Beach. The Falcons, who finished with 226 team points, were the fourth out of five teams in the South Coast Conference, with 17 teams represented. They will now take a week off before running in the San Bernardino Valley College Invitational on October 7.
Leading the way on the four-mile course was sophomore Adriana Velasco (Downey HS), who was the 36th overall finisher with a time of 20:59.8, while the Falcons had their next seven runners finish within :50 seconds of each other. Part of a block of runners, the tandem of freshmen Rebecca Harris (Buena Park HS) and Sabrina Padilla (Montebello HS) crossed the finish line five seconds apart, with Harris in 46th place (21:26.3) and Padilla in 49th place (21:31.3) out of 161 total runners.
Rounding out the team scoring for Cerritos were freshman Raquel Hernandez (Downey HS), who placed 53rd overall in 21:41.5, while it was a 59th overall finish for freshman Gabrielle Mendoza (Schurr HS), with a time of 21:53.7. The trio of Katherine Batres (Schurr HS; 22:11.7; 67th place), Brianna Gill (La Serna HS; 22:13.4; 69th place) and Kathia Munoz (Paramount HS; 22:16.9; 70th place) all were five seconds apart in finishing the course.
Also competing for the Falcons on the day were Giselle Burgos (El Rancho HS; 23:07.4; 92nd place), Bailee Wilkerson (Mayfair HS; 23:12.5; 94th place), Jaime Monaco (Long Beach Poly HS; 24:42.2; 116th place), Esmeralda Soto (Downey HS; 24:43.3; 117th place), Heidi Rouse (Mayfair HS; 25:00.4; 121st place), Da'Myah Ward (Long Beach Poly HS; 25:48.2; 133rd place) and Suyan Carcedo (California HS; 28:52.9; 152nd place).