Gaston College cross country competes in third meet of the year in Shelby

Gaston College's cross country recorded its third team score in school history while running in the Yeti Invitational at Cleveland Community College in Shelby on Saturday.

Sophomore Victoria Perez was Rhinos' team medalist for the seventh time in seven meets in school history as she finished 15th overall after running the course in 23 minutes, 24.0 seconds.

Rounding out Saturday's team scorers for Gaston College were Stefani Vergara-Delgado (20th-place score, 25:27.7), Audrey Krupa (31st, 30:46.5), Emma Laney (33rd, 32:32.6) and Leah Treat (34th, 33:17.0) and Andrea Ortiz (35th, 34:51.4) and Keren Robleda (36th, 38:27.8).

"The ladies had a good bounce back with a short week coming of our first 6k" last Saturday in Spartanburg, S.C., first-year Gaston College coach Kody Kubbs said. "Five of our runners ran their 5K personal-bests today, so obviously a great showing and huge improvement. We are excited for the Gaston College Stampede next Saturday before returning back to action in two weeks in Columbia, S.C."

Next week's Gaston College Stampede is the second annual event and open to 5K runners in the community as a fundraiser for the school's athletic program.

Perez's 15th place overall finish is the second-highest individual finish in school history; Perez finished 14th in the school's 2021 cross country debut at Methodist College in Fayetteville.