Needing a military waiver to finally become eligible this season, sophomore Philycius Oey returned to the Pasadena City College men's cross country team on Saturday and immediately showed his talent as the Lancers #1 racer. Oey placed 13th in the 52-runner field in helping PCC take third place at the Chaffey Invitational.

Oey served in the U.S. Army National Guard in the Spring which prevented him from school units qualification between his frosh and sophomore seasons. 

San Bernardino Valley won the meet (six colleges qualified for the team scoring). 

Oey raced a time of 24:22.3 over the 4-mile course at Chaffey's Grigsby Field to top seven PCC racers overall. 

Youssef Cherqaoui was right behind Oey in 15th at 24:27 and the next fastest Lancer was Michael Bartle in 19th (24:47). 

Etienne Deleage scored in 20th (24:56) while Joshua Ramirez placed 33rd (27:09) to round out Pasadena's scoring racers.

Also racing were Johnathan Macali (36th, 27:41) and William Southam (43rd, 30:05).

"It was great to see Philycius return and lead us in a meet," said PCC head coach Innocent Egbunike. "He will make a difference and push our other runners with his hard work ethic."

PCC will participate in the Mt. SAC Invitational this Friday, Oct. 14. Race time is 10:45 a.m. at Mt. San Antonio College. At last year's meet, Oey (from Temple City High) placed a team-best 62nd place in 24:55.