Photo by Leo Dela Cruz
SAN DIEGO — The University of La Verne women's cross country team turned in its best team performance of the early season on Friday at the 72nd annual Aztec Invitational, hosted by San Diego State, at the Tecolote Shores Park.
Melissa Cerrillos paced the Leopards, finishing fifth overall with a time of 20 minutes, 00.6 seconds, and Kamalei Lee finished just outside the top-10, placing 11th with a time of 21:33.6.
And a trio of freshmen followed the veterans. Isabella Fernandez finished 14th at 22:27.0, Jesja Pham came in 19th with a time of 23:46.6 and Courtney Oberholtz crossed the line 21st with a time of 23:50.8.
Lorena Rodriguez (24:31.2, 23rd), Summer O'Brien (24:55.0, 26th), Maria Castanon (26:31.9, 34th) and Danica Langaynor (27:24.6, 39th) rounded out La Verne's lineup.
"I thought the women had their best meet yet," La Verne head coach Bryan George said. "The course ran slow, so the times weren't fast, but they did a good job of running with their packs and being competitive.
"That's what we emphasized before the race and they did exactly what we asked."
La Verne finished second as a team with 50 points. Soka won the meet with a low total of 36 points.
The Leopards return to action next Saturday at SCIAC Multi-Dual.