LA MIRADA, Calif. — This past weekend marked one of two conference meets for the La Verne Cross Country teams. Held at La Mirada Park, this course features a traditional cross country course with a 6K for the women and 8K for the men. With the end of the season soon approaching, the Leopards are seeing their hard work and dedication pay off.
Leading the women's team once again was freshman Rachel Dela Cruz with a quick time of 24:25.53, and freshman Melissa Cerrillos following close behind with a time of 24:59.68.
"The women made some big improvements in their early-race pacing today. That was a big step for them as a young team," says La Verne head coach Bryan George.
Andrea Valdez broke up the pack of freshman and finished less than a minute after Cerrillos at 25:52.16. Miranda Chavez and Daisy Perez finished strong with times of 27:01.65 and 29:41.02, respectively.
Maya Weigel of Pomona-Pitzer claimed the individual win with a time of 21:30.48 and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps earned the team win.
The men's team ran a strong race finishing 6th overall. Top finisher on the men's side was Christopher Arcos who crossed the finish line at 27:41.52 for 38th place. Tanner Long, a two-time All-West Region selection, ran a strong race, finishing 40th at 27:49.21.
"Everything is starting to piece together," Long said. "Bottom line is, today I felt like we were finally got comfortable with each other as a team. We're finally executing like a team should and that's most of the battle. The rest of the season we can focus on running fast and the success will come naturally."
Marcelo Arcos also notched a top-50 finish, coming in 47th with a time of 28:01.32.
John Fowler of Pomona-Pitzer won the individual medal with a time of 25:28.29 and the Sagehens finished first as a team.
The Leopards will be working hard for the next two weeks to prepare for the SCIAC Championships on Oct. 31 as they look to finish the season strong.
"There were positives to take away today, but we need to be aware of our mistakes and address them going forward," George said. "If we can do that then we'll see good things at the championship meet in a couple weeks."
