This weekend, the Cerritos College women's cross country team flew to New York and came back with the championship of the St. Joseph's Invitational. The Falcons, running at Sunken Meadow Park, had five of the top 15 runners to compile 48 points and easily won the meet, with Farmingdale State College (NY) in second place with 76 team points. The team will take a week off before competing in the South Coast Conference on October 28 at Legg Lake in Whittier.

Of the 155 overall runners, sophomore Adriana Velasco (Downey HS) was the fourth runner to complete the 5K and recorded a time of 20:23.5. She held off three other runners, who finished less than three seconds behind. The winning time of 18:25.9 was won by a runner unattached to a school.

Part of that trio of runners behind Velasco was freshman Raquel Hernandez (Downey HS), who placed sixth overall with her time of 20:26.0, while four of the next five runners finished close together. Freshman Katherine Batres (Schurr HS) earned the 14th overall best time on the day with her clocking of 20:57.7, with a trio of runners taking the 17th through 19th positions.

Freshmen Rebecca Harris (Buena Park HS) and Sabrina Padilla (Montebello HS) crossed the finish line less than three seconds apart, with Harris in 17th place in 21:11.0, while Padilla turned in a time of 21:14.4 for 18th place overall. In 19th place was sophomore Brianna Gill (La Serna HS) with a time of 21:16.5. The top five runners compile the team scoring.

Also running for the Falcons was freshman Gabrielle Mendoza (Schurr HS), whose time of 21:36.2 put her in 23rd place overall. There were 18 schools competing, which consisted of community colleges and NCAA Division III schools.