The San Diego City College women’s cross-country team traveled up north on Sept. 19 to compete against 26 teams from across the Southern California region in the SoCal Preview Meet at Woodley Park in Van Nuys.

In the 5-kilometer course, the Lady Knights had the opportunity early in the season to race against teams that they will later go up against in November at the SoCal Regional Meet in Ventura.

“It was the first time that we saw what a lot of the competition was and a lot of the girls really stepped up; we had some huge (personal records) – a lot of people ran their season best, so I think it was a really good learning experience and it’s given us a good platform going forward for the rest of the season,” said Head Coach Kylie Edwards.

Crossing the finish line first for the Knights with a time of 22:43.8 was freshman captain Katia Sanchez.

“It was a pretty flat course; I was definitely testing waters where I was physically and I was really happy I came in first for my team but I’m also very proud of all my teammates,” said Sanchez. “They all beat their personal records so they did really, really good and I’m just hoping for the (conference championships) that we can perform better than we did and I know we will.”

The flat course at Woodley Park meant a much faster pace, something that the Lady Knights weren’t used to but Sanchez expressed that the team were able to pull through mentally and physically to give their best performance.

Just seconds after Sanchez, freshman Teresita Guzman crossed the finish line with a time of 22:59.2. Freshman Diana Vergara clocked in at a time of 23:03.8 for the Lady Knights and freshman Heather Houdlin finished with a time of 25:38.9. Freshman Stephanie Ramirez finished with a time of 26:30.7 and right behind her was freshman Kim Mijares finishing with a time of 26:54.8.

Following their teammates, freshmen Kelsey Engler and Joseline Ponciano crossed the finish line with a time of 26:56.3 and 27:26.7, respectively.

The last four runners for the Lady Knights finished strong as sophomore Jazzmin Jackson finished with a time of 28:05.5. Freshman Mercedes Guerriero crossed the finish line with a time of 29:02.7. Sophomore Olivia Medina clocked in at a time of 30:07.0 and a couple yards behind her was freshman Carolina Moreno finishing with a time of 30:28.1.

“I thought it was really fun, I enjoyed it – I’m really happy that I’m making progress along with my teammates,” said freshman Teresita Guzman. “(We) are learning from all the events and the workouts and they are all totally different but so much fun.”

As the season moves along for the women’s cross-country team they will have time to recover and time to improve before they find themselves anxiously waiting at the starting line.

“We have a really good three week training block ahead of us and then another race so I am really looking forward to seeing how much the girls will improve during that time,” added Edwards. The next race for the women’s cross-country team will be on Saturday, Oct. 11 as they will be traveling up north to compete in the Brubaker Invitational at Irvine Park in Santa Ana.