Competing in the Southern California Regional Preview on Friday, the Cerritos College women's cross country team finished in fourth place out of 35 total schools. Running the 5K race at Chaffey College, the Falcons concluded the day with 156 team points, which was just three behind third place Orange Coast College. Next Friday, the team will run in the Manny Bautista XC Invitational at NTC Park in San Diego.

With 168 runners on the day, there were tight races at the finish line, which helped determine the team's order in the final standings. Three of the top 11 finishers came from school that didn't even field a full squad, including the overall winner.

As for Cerritos, Evelyn Mejia (Norwalk HS) was the top runner for the team and came in 17th place overall with a time of 21:24.8. Two runners from Orange Coast finished ahead of her, which helped them secure third place as a team, while the Falcons held off Bakersfield College (163 team points) and College of the Canyons (165 team points), who finished in fifth and sixth places, respectively.

Ariel Alvarez (Firebaugh HS) recorded the 29th fastest time when she crossed the finish line in 21:57.7 and held off two other runners who completed the course less than a second later. Not far behind was Diana Raya Perez (Norwalk HS), who was clocked in 22:02.6, which was good for 32nd place overall. A trio of Cerritos runners finished in a block, which helped complete the team scoring. Claudia Rios (Paramount HS) was 53rd overall in a time of 23:01.9, followed by Kimberly Ibarra (Warren HS) and Lila Palmer (Long Beach Poly HS). Ibarra turned in a time of 23:09.5 (56th place), while Palmer was clocked in 23:10.8 (57th place).

Also running on the day for Cerritos were Jayla Barnwell (Warren HS; 24:05.0; 82nd place) and Kaitlyn Macias (La Mirada HS; 25:28.9; 109th place).