(SAN DIEGO) After competing in Oregon last weekend, PLNU Cross Country returned to San Diego and raced locally on Friday in an exhibition 5K at the Manny Bautista XC Invite in NTC Park.
 
"It's the first time we've had a race down at Liberty Station," Head Coach Landon Bright said. "We train here quite a bit, at least once or twice a week. It was a good course and it was nice not having to travel too far this morning."
 
Kellis Hein (37th – 21:13.34) led a group of six Sea Lions who raced. Luca Burns (54th – 22:29.20) and Jenna Bernath (63rd – 22:57.32) ran sub 23 minutes, with Hannah Thomas (71st – 23:33.47), Tori Michaelian (94th – 24:58.46) and Joann Chaimuang (95th – 24:58.87) rounding out PLNU's lineup.
 
"The group we ran today has been coming back from illness and turning a corner on some injuries, so I wanted to get them a race-effort type workout and shake off some rust for them because they haven't had a chance to race too much," Bright said. "We did what we wanted to do and they'll get some miles in afterwards. For a lot of them it was their first race of the season."
 
Point Loma is scheduled to next compete on Oct. 15 at the Highlander Classic, hosted by UC Riverside, as the Sea Lions continue to prep for the NCAA D2 Pre-Nationals Invite (Oct. 22) and PacWest Championships (Nov. 5).
 
"I'm definitely looking forward to the next month or so," Bright said. "The race at Riverside next week we might not go all out but it should be another good indicator for us.
 
"We're really looking to focus in on the Pre-Nationals and conference meets. Then two weeks after that is regionals. That's the main window of racing we're really looking to hit. The girls are confident, relaxed and training really well."

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