Sophia Cortina has a target on her back, and for good reason.

After winning the first three meets of the season, including the Southern California Preview – which hosted over 30 teams – Cortina has proven herself to be one of the top distance runners in the state. Cortina placed 4th at the 2018 So Cal Preview, 58 seconds behind the leader. This year, she won the 5k race at Mission Park Tecolote in San Diego in a time of 19:14 and 11 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher.

As a team, the Lady Raiders placed 8th. Sophomore Adriana Perez ran an amazing race, placing 42nd in a time of 21:55. Elizabeth Hsu was 67th (23:09) while Estefania De Los Santos was close behind (23:16), placing 70th. Claiming the 5th spot for the Raiders was Venus Venegas (23:38) who passed teammate Andrea Gonzalez (23:47) in the last 800 meters.

The men's team is having an interesting season. Three meets and three different men have led the pack. This week, sophomore Andrew Teasdale led the Raiders to a 14th-place finish. Teasdale placed 22nd in a time of 22:06. Freshmen Drake Nienow was close behind, finishing the 4 mile race in 22:15 and placing 26th. Zach Lieth ran a stellar race, placing 43rd in a time of 22:37, improving his 4 mile time by 1 minute, 16 seconds! Andrew Garcia (28:30) and Ronald Reyes (28:53) placed 159th and 162nd.

Next race for the Raiders will be the Master's University Invitational on Saturday, September 28th, 2019. The men race the 8K at 7am and the women will race the 5k at 7:45am.