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Posted: Oct 07, 2021

Mt. SAC, Cerritos' Lauren Berg Now State Women's Cross Country Title Contenders

Lauren Berg of Cerritos College is a leading contender for the 2021 state women's cross country individual title.
Lauren Berg of Cerritos College is a leading contender for the 2021 state women's cross country individual title.

Winners of nine state championships in the history of California Communty College women's cross country, Mt. San Antonio College is hoping a 10th is on the horizon in 2021. The South Coast Conference's Mounties were recently chosen along with Hartnell College as tied for the No. 1 spot in the first 5CTCA State Top 14 Rankings of the year. 

Meanwhile, Cerritos College, at No. 4 in the ratings as the only other SCC team selected, may have the state's top runner in Lauren Berg, who has already won two meets this season. 

In the SoCal Region rankings, Mt. SAC was first, Cerritos third and Los Angeles Harbor at #13. 

Holding 18 SCC team championships in its history, the Mounties are hoping to end a 2-year drought this season as well. LA Harbor captured the last two titles in 2018 and 2019 after the team programs shared the 2017 crown. Mt. SAC has won already three meets, including the Oxnard Invitational and the Golden West Central Park Classic. 

It was a 1-2 South Coast finish at the Oct. 1 San Diego Mesa Invitational with Mt. SAC winning the team title, scoring 53 points and Cerritos placing second at 74. 

Berg won the individual title at 18:59.8 as the only woman to eclipse 19 minutes in the 132-racer field over the 5-kilometer course. A deep Mt. SAC squad saw an impressive seven runners finish in the top 20. Amanda Crowell placed third overall in a time of 19:38. Hannah Brown took ninth (20:26.6), then Kimberly Pena (12th, 20:33.5), Claudia Vera (15th, 20:54.5), Carla Galvin (17th, 21:06.4), Kaitlyn Atkinson (18th, 21:07.5), and Deanna Diaz (19th, 21:08.2).

Two other strong Falcons runners were Tracy Acevedo (13th, 20:39.1) and Isabel Orosco (20th, 21:08.5).

Berg opened the season by shocking a field full of 4-year university runners in winning the Fresno Invitational with a first-place time of 19:13. The freshman has been the top community college runner in all four of Cerritos' meets this season.

LA Harbor doesn't have as strong a team in '21 but does have a solid #1 runner thus far in Marbella Flores, who was 17th (21:43.2) at the GWC Classic on Sept. 24. 

Pasadena City has its own speedy runner in Carissa Guardado, who was ninth at the GW meet in 20:53.6. East Los Angeles features yet another SCC standout in Makayla Brown, who took 10th at the meet (21:07.9).

Vanessa Washington appears to be Long Beach City College's top harrier as she had a team-best 49th (23:20.2) at that SD Mesa Invite. El Camino's top time in the same race was turned in by Meghan Wright (59th, 24:12.3). Compton is paced by Tia Spears, who was 48th overall at the San Bernardino Coyote Challenge on Sept. 11. 

Compton College hosts the SCC Championship meet on Oct. 29. The CCCAA State Championships are slated for Fresno's Woodward Park on Nov. 20.