The San Diego City College cross country teams laced up their running shoes on Friday, Sept. 5 at the Palomar Cross Country Invitational, where both the men’s and women’s team were able to find their stride as the season takes off with hopes of making it to the State Championships.

The men’s cross country team ran a four mile race to begin their season and with a freshman filled team of runners, the grueling hills of Guajome Park in Oceanside welcomed the young Knights to their first collegiate race.

The top three runners for the men’s team were freshman Antonio Cota who crossed the finished line with a time of 24:20. Freshman Sawiros Haile clocked in at a time of 25:20 and not too far behind Haile was freshman Julio Segura with a time of 25:59.

“I think we strongly performed well as a team. I think individually we all did well especially in the heat the team ran great,” said sophomore captain Daniel Trujillo.

“On paper, this is an excellent team right now. I think we have a shot at least making SoCals. I think we can get that 17 spot for State and if we get everyone to stay healthy and they can run to their max, I think we can go to SoCals and from there they take the top 17 teams out of 28, and I think we can get that 17 spot,” said Assistant Coach Peter Gregory.

The women’s cross country team ran 3.1 miles and just like the men’s team the Lady Knights are also filled with freshman runners.

“We are a very young team with only two sophomores returning. But so far we had good workouts and the girls are figuring out really quickly on what they need to do to continue to get better,” said Head Coach Kylie Edwards.

The top three runners for the women’s team were freshman Teresita Guzman who clocked in with a time of 23:39. Freshman Diana Vergara finished with a time of 24:31 and just behind her was freshman Katia Sanchez with a time of 24:47.

“Our goals for the season besides wanting to go to the (conference championships) is to improve and I want the ladies to really push themselves time wise and improve by a minute or two minutes and make them feel good,” said Sanchez, freshman captain.