Cerritos College women's cross country runner Lauren Berg (Fountain Valley HS) easily outdistanced the field at the South Coast Conference Championships on Friday. Berg (pictured, below), who had already placed first in two other invitationals during the season, bested her closest competition by 28 seconds, as she completed the 5K course at Compton Wilson Park with a time of 19:08.2, with Mt. San Antonio College's Hannah Brown a distant second in 19:33.0. In fact, the next seven runners in the race were Mounties, who won the conference title, with Cerritos in second place with 48 team points.

After the contingent of Mt. SAC runners completed the course, it was Tracy Acevedo (Santa Fe HS) who came in ninth place, and was barely edged by two Mountie runners, who all finished within a second of each other. Acevedo turned in a time of 20:34.6, with teammate Isabel Orosco (Schurr HS) not far behind with an 11th overall finish with a clocking of 20:48.9.

Joining the pack of runners that finished within close proximity of each other was Charlotte Barrera (El Rancho HS), who was timed in 20:53.4, which put her in 14th place overall, with Natalie Juarez (Norwalk HS) rounding out the top five scorers with an 18th overall finish in a time of 21:33.3.

Also running on the day for the Falcons were Valeria Guerra (Warren HS; 23:36.4; 30th place) and Maggie Quinones (Downey HS; 25:20.2; 41st place).

Cerritos, ranked #2 in Southern California, will now compete in the Southern California Championship, which will take place next Friday at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley.