The PCC cross country teams succeeded once again at the Cougar Challenge held on the California State University San Marcos campus on Saturday, meeting high expectations with outstanding performances.
The Lancer women placed fourth out of eight teams from the San Diego area. The Lancers total of 98 points gave PCC a distance over the rest of the field.
“It was nice to compete against teams we rarely see,” said cross country head coach Armand Crespo.
Team members Cristina Shamirian, Kailadnni Chavez, Ashley Medina, Kate Manzke and Marina Flores ran their personal best times in the 5k distance race, according to Crespo. Sophomore Christina Shamirian led the women in the 5k/8k challenge with a finish of 19:18. Finishing not far behind was Kailadnni Chavez with at time of 19:56.
The men’s team placed seventh out of nine teams in the 8k run. Coach Crespo noted that the team was missing three of the top five runners due to school obligations.
“Brendan Greene, Abraham Esparza, Chris Alagala, Faustino Gil, Pedro Lopez, Sergio Andrade and Adam Akopyan all stood out because they too ran personal bests for the 8k distance race,” said Crespo.
The race was also open to the public and members of the local San Diego Dirt Dog Series, who brought several talented runners from the community to participate in the event.
The preparations for conference games are going well especially since more than half of the athletes are running their best times later in the season, according to Crespo.
“This gives us confidence and motivation to continue to achieve new heights for our program,” said Crespo.
The teams will return to action at the SCC Championships on Friday, Nov. 1 at Heartwell Park, Long Beach.
- EDITORIAL: Apologize about the real problem - April 23, 2014
- STATEMENT: District apologizes to Oscar winning alum - April 21, 2014
- EDITORIAL: The Forgotten Students - March 26, 2014
