As the championship season continues to get closer, the Eagles cross-country team continues to show off their improvements. This past weekend marked the third time this year that all runners have posted a personal best during their races.

The runners competed in El Monte, California at the Western State Conference Preview. For those who don't know, this will be the site of the conference meet next year. And if this year is a precursor for next year, you should be excited.

The women took on the 5000-meter course first and were led by consistent number one runner, Ruth Cobieya. Last week Ruth dipped under 21:00 and she did so again this weekend. She shaved another 20+ seconds off of her time and ran 20:28 which was good enough for 16th place on the day.

Finishing second for the Eagles was Janice Salazar. She also improved upon her time from the week before. She ran 21:33 which marks a personal best for her and continues her trend of improving from meet to meet.

Yense Sanchez was the last to finish for Los Angeles Mission but she also did so in a season's best time of 26:43. Just like the two girls before her, the trend of improvement has been seen throughout the entire team this season.

The men were led by Kieran Burmester who finished the race in 64th place and proceeded to break the 25:00 barrier for the first time. His time of 24:51 is a personal best for him over the course of four miles.

Three places behind him was Antonio Gutierrez who covered the course in a time of 25:29. Abraham Cota was the third runner for the Eagles on the day as he finished the course in 26:25. Both times are personal bests for the athletes who have continued to improve as the season has gone on.

Competing in his first meet for the Eagles was Jorge Macias. He ran the four-mile race in 30:06 and was named our athlete of the week while doing so. Jorge has battled injuries and had never run in a cross-country race before this season. For him to finish it truly shows what it means to be able to run with courage.

The harriers will head to Moorpark this upcoming weekend for their next competition. The races are set to start at 10:00 and 10:45 AM.