Millanponce Lands 3rd At SCC Women's Cross Country Championships

Pasadena City College's Franceska Millanponce continued a brilliant sophomore season by placing third overall out of 66 runners at the South Coast Conference Women's Cross Country Championships held Friday at Legg Lake Park in South El Monte.

Millanponce raced a speedy 18 minutes, 48 seconds over the 3-mile course and was just 12 seconds behind conference champion Alexis Ceballos of Long Beach City College. By placing third, she becomes the first All-South Coast Conference First Team runner for PCC since 2010 when Tracee van der Wyk was second (also third in 2009). 

Unfortunately for the Lancers, the team didn't fare as well as their top runner. PCC placed sixth out of seven teams with a score of 144 points. Mt. San Antonio won the championship wih 37 points, followed by LA Harbor (64), Chaffey (89), Long Beach (110), and Cerritos (115). El Camino was seventh with 174. 

Ramina Padashi Fard raced 19:50 to take 21st. The divide between the rest of the Lancers was wide with the next fastest finisher being Andrea Sigala in 50th (23:28). Next was Kandice Kwan (52nd, 23:42), then Noemi Diaz (53rd, 24:01). Alyssa Villagracia was a non-scorer in 60th at 25:20. 

Millanponce and Padashi Fard both have qualified for the SoCal Regional Championships as individuals. It is not reported yet if the team has qualified. The regional meet takes place Friday, Nov. 4 at Irvine Regional Park in the City of Orange. The race begins at 10 a.m.

[Photo--Franceska Millanponce appears to be the only runner during this part of the SCC Championships in good spirits as she went on to third place overall on Friday, image by Richard Quinton.]