The Pasadena City College men's cross country had no individual state qualifiers and placed 21st overall as its 2023 season concluded at the Southern California Championships held at Long Beach's El Dorado East Regional Park on Nov. 3.

The Lancers were one of 27 scoring teams with sophomore Youssef Cherqaoui scoring as the fastest PCC runner in 22 minutes, 59.5 seconds during the 4-mile course in 118th place (189 total racers). 

It's the first time since 2015 that a PCC runner will not be participating in the 3C2A State Meet.

After Cherqaoui, Christopher Camarena was the best of PCC's freshmen in 120th (23:06.5). Luca Augustyn scored 129th (23:22), followed by Winsor Harmon in 148th (24:28.9), and Samuel Platz in 153rd (25:02.5). Umar Saleem placed 157th (25:18) and in a cluster crossed the line with Jaime Loera (158th, 25:29.2) and Colt Reichman (159th, 25:32.2). Aghasi Melkonyan was 171st in 26:54.7. 

PCC hopes that the experience for many freshmen will lead to an improvement for the returning Lancers in 2024 and a chance to compete in the state meet next season.