Knights Get 3rd at PCAC Championship; Barajas, Reyes, Jara Earn All-PCAC

San Diego City's women's cross country team took third place at the PCAC championship on Friday with Deandra Jara, Jackeline Reyes, and Leslie Barajas all finishing in the top-14 to earn all-PCAC honors. With their third place run, the Knights also qualified for the Southern California Regional championship for the fifth year in a row, a program record.

All eight of City's runners set new personal records, including Jara who ran the 5k course at Norco College in 20:41.8, which was nine seconds faster than her previous PR. She finished in 9th place overall.

Reyes made a big improvement, running 22 seconds faster than her previous best 5k time to earn a 13th place finish by clocking in at 21:57.8. Right behind her was Barajas who cut nearly three minutes off her last 5k run to cross the finish line in 14th place with a time of 21:57.8. 

With Jara, Reyes, and Barajas finishing in the top-15, the Knights have now had three all-conference runners in each of the last three seasons. 

Nihal Samaha (20th place) completed the course in 23:49.3, which was over two minutes faster than her previous best. Joscelyn Silva made similar gains by cutting 2:34 off her previous PR to finish in 21st in 23:57.2.

Selena Garcia (25th, 29:01.8), Ornella Spinelli (26th, 29:38.1), and Ailynn Renteria (28th, 30:21.3) all had their best performances of the season to round out the field for the Knights. 

The Southern California Regional championship will be held at Kern Country Soccer Park in Bakersfield on Friday, Nov. 4 with the start set for 10:00 a.m.