FULLERTON, Calif. — The University of La Verne cross country teams competed at the Biola Invitational Saturday morning, competing in a full field for the first time this season.
"I emphasized to both squads that we need to improve in the second half of the race and we executed that well today. We were passing a lot of people in the last couple miles," said Head Coach Bryan George. "It was a bigger field and longer race than last week, so it was a good learning experience for many of the freshmen."
Samuel Johnny had a strong race for the Leopards. The junior from Glendora was the top finisher for La Verne in the 8K, crossing the line at 27:22.01. Eric Lopez-Elwell followed next for La Verne at 27:44.94. Marcelo Arcos was the third fastest Leopard, finishing at 27:56.86.
Matthew Salas (28:07.22), and Christopher Arcos (28:58.45) rounded out the top five for La Verne.
On the women's side, Melissa Cerrillos took the top spot for La Verne, finishing the 5K with a time of 19:30.56. Janice Deguerio was the second Leopard to finish, coming in with a time of 22:31.53. Ashley Garnica followed close behind, ending the race at 22:53.17. Michelle Suarez crossed 23:13.00, and Daisy Perez finished at 23:43.49.
The La Verne men took seventh overall and the women's team took eleventh in their race.
