The LA Mission Eagles cross country team returned to action this past Friday, this time in the confines of Oxnard College.  With more tepid conditions and a more level course, albeit still winding, the Eagles moved forward with the seasons mantra of improving and learning to compete throughout the season.

Tara Irvin made the biggest improvement from the previous race, going from to 29:19 to 26:32, for an almost 3 minute jump in time.  Elizabeth Alvarez, followed up with a time of 34:27.

Leading the way for the men was Dylan Atwater once again, improving by well over  minute from the previous week to run 23:15 and place near the top half of the race.  Making their debuts were Yerson Chavez-Puac with a time of 25:52, and Alex Calvillo 29:25.

For Coach Laguna, the race marks another step in progress towards being ready to perform their best as they come up to Conference toward the end of October.  "While we got some time to go before we get to the championship, today was another step in the right direction, as we can see from the improvements in our leading athletes.  We need to bring the others along, but given a couple of those individuals toed the line for the first time in over a year, and others like Alex Calvillo almost literally walking out for the first ever for a competition, it encouraging to just get them out there again and learn how to fight through these races", Laguna stated. 

After a bit of stretch, the team will return to action at the Western States Conference Preview at Moorpark on October 1st.  Go Eagles!

Click here to see the official results.