Knights Take 6th at Mesa Invite

The San Diego City College women's cross country team faced its stiffest competition on Friday at the San Diego Mesa Invite with a total of 13 teams participating in the race and the Knights were able to grab sixth place after being led by freshman Sofya Chernyak and sophomore Yesenia Huerta. 

Chernyak, who has been City's fastest runner in all three meets so far this season, came in 29th overall with a 5k time of 21:40.0 and was followed by Huerta, who finished 36th with a time of 21:52.6. 

Isabelle Dalton made a 14 second improvement over last week's performance at the Coach Downey Classic and completed the Mesa Invite course in 22:48.5, which was good enough for 45th overall. 

Calysta Lopez was the fourth Knight to cross the finish line by clocking in at 24:01.5 (57th). Natalie Garcia (66th; 24:53.6) also made an improvement by cutting 14 seconds off her Downey Classic time (25:07).

Mariana Lara (85th; 26:51.6), Elani Patzan (90th; 27:20.0), and Rachel Karalinikc (27:22.7) all made big gains on their 5k bests by 37 seconds, 1:20, and 2:23, respectively. 

The Knights finished second among PCAC teams that participated, behind only Mesa.

City will be hosting their next meet at Balboa Park (6th & Quince), which will be a 3-team race among the Knights, Imperial Valley and Southwestern. That meet is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.