When Cerritos College's top women's cross country runner Lauren Berg (Westminster HS) was slowed by spraining her ankle twice during the 6K course in the Highlander Invitational at UC Riverside on Saturday morning, it dropped the team to 24th place in the standings. Berg, who has won a pair of invitationals this season, slipped down to 124th place overall with a time of 23:19.5, which was well of her potential and could have moved the team up multiple spots in the final standings. As a result, the Falcons slipped to 24th place overall with 652 team points, one behind Cal State Northridge, who placed 23rd with 651 points.

The team will now train for the South Coast Conference Championships, which will take place at Compton College on October 29.

Even with the sprained ankle, Berg was still the third community college runner to complete the course, which was packed with 25 schools, with 22 of them being four-year universities, along with incomplete teams and individual entries. There were a total of 262 runners that completed the course.

After Berg, it was Tracy Acevedo (Santa Fe HS) who crossed the finish line for Cerritos, as she posted a 186th place time of 24:25.2, with Charlotte Barrera (El Rancho HS) not too far behind with a 209th place finish in a time of 25:05.5. Isabel Orosco (Schurr HS) was following closely behind and posted a time of 25:14.4, good for 215th place overall. Rounding out the Falcons on the day were Natalie Juarez (Norwalk HS; 25:51.8; 229th place), Valeria Guerra (Warren HS; 27:59.0; 252nd place) and Maggie Quinones (Downey HS; 29:31.0; 256th place).