Knights Take 16th Place at State Championship

San Diego City's women's cross country ran at the state championship meet as a team for the first time in 32 years and finished in 16th place with Sofya Chernyak and Isabelle Dalton leading the way as the top two finishers for the Knights. 

Coming into Saturday's 5k meet at Woodward Park in Fresno, Chernyak had been the Knights' fastest runner in four of the five previous races and that was the case again at the state championship as she came in 79th overall with a time of 20:54.5, which was her second best 5k run of the season. 

Not too far behind was Dalton, who was the second Knight to cross the finish line for the second consecutive race. She clocked in at 21:01.6 (85th), which was also her second best 5k time of the season.

Yesenia Huerta finished third on the team and 95th overall with a time of 21:21.6 and Natalie Garcia follwed with her fastest run of the season (23:36.3) for 125th place. Garcia trimmed 1:17 off her previous best (24:53.6) at the SD Mesa Invite on Oct. 1.

Calysta Lopez (24:18.8; 132nd), Rachel Karalnikc (26:35.5; 148th), and Mariana Lara (27:25.6; 151st) rounded out the top seven for the Knights in what was an historic achievement for the program to earn a spot as a team at the state meet.

The Knights, under Head Coach Marco Anzures, will now look to build upon this season's success for years to come.