Ma Impresses At Mt. SAC Invite For Women's Cross Country

Kayla Ma races at the Mt. SAC Invite on Friday (photo by Richard Quinton).
Kayla Ma races at the Mt. SAC Invite on Friday (photo by Richard Quinton).

Chinese international student Kayla Ma established the top time for the Pasadena City College women's cross country team at the Mt. SAC Invite held at Mt. San Antonio College on Friday.

It was Ma's first collegiate race as she placed 70th overall among 114 runners, scoring a 24:39.9 minutes time over the 3-mile course. 

PCC placed ninth out of 11 scoring teams while 11 other colleges did not have the five runners needed to score.

Summer Hamilton, the team's best runner in two previous races, scored in 77th place (25:26.5), followed by Melissa Le (83rd, 26:06), Alejandra Penaloza (89th, 27:33) and Isabella Evans (91st, 27:46) as scoring runners. Emily Dean rounded out the squad's efforts in 106th (30:58). 

Host Mt. SAC won the team title while Hartnell's Andrea Villegas was the race champion in 18:05.3.

The Lancers will take part in the South Coast Conference Championships on Friday, Oct. 27 in Harbor City.