Outstanding Performance for Cross Country at WSC Championships
Women's cross country performed at their highest level at the Western State Conference Championship Meet on Friday, Oct. 20, finishing 9th out of the 14 teams competing in Bakersfield.
As the first team to compete for Mission after a 19-year hiatus, cross country has qualified for the Southern California Championship Meet with their scores from Friday.
All Mission runners achieved lifetime bests at the meet in their 5K race and ranged from 2-4 minutes of improvement from their previous bests.
Freshman Natascha Klein, a consistent top performer for the Eagles, once again led the team with a total time of 20:00.49, finishing 19th out of 89 runners overall. Her time was 2 minutes faster than her season best going into the competition.
Klein was followed by teammates Samantha Ochoa, Melissa Mejorada, and Kimberly Mejorada, who finished with times of 22:59.54, 23:00.36, and 23:41.47, respectively. Head Coach Florence Edi said the trio did an outstanding job sticking to the team strategy of staying together through the finish line, which is key to their success as a unit.
Angel Blanquera rounded out the team's scoring with a 24:06.86 effort, a 3-minute improvement on her former best which turned out to be crucial to the Eagles' advancement.
Coach Edi had nothing but praise for the way the athletes competed at the meet.
"The girls came together as a team," Edi said. "The last mile was the fastest one they've run all season. It was a very courageous effort. I'm very proud of the turnaround in race tactics and performance they've shown in such a short period of time."
Assistant Coach Julia Pickslay agreed, adding that in all her years of coaching, she has never seen such across-the-board improvement by every member of the team in one race.
The So Cal Championship Meet will take place on Friday, Nov. 3, at 10 a.m. at Central Park in Santa Clarita.