The San Bernardino women's cross country team showed great improvement at the Cal State San Bernardino Coyote Invitational.

On the flat fast course, the top five athletes from the Wolverines achieved lifetime personal best for 5000 meters. Once again, Alyssa Benavides led the way for San Bernardino Valley, crossing the line in 18 minutes, 28 seconds. Her 11th place finish overall was very impressive in the strong field of four-year colleges. Following the meet, several coaches expressed interest in Benavides attending their university following her San Bernardino Valley College career. Benavides, a freshman, continues to impress on and off the course. Her leadership and personality is contagious.

Benavides is "happy go lucky and every day seems to just be living the dream," said Wolverines' coach Eric Abrams. "To top it off she approaches every workout on a mission. Her 11th place overall finish would put her in position to be the number one runner at most of the schools that attended the meet."

The rest of the Wolverines' crew is making strides at closing the gap on Benavides. Lillian Armendariz (21:16) and Kiani Fernandes (21:18) moved forward in the pack and both set their personal bests in the 5000 meters at the event, while Darilyn Hernandez (22:25) also set a monster personal best.

Rounding out the top five were Roxanna Lopez (23:11) and Natalia Molina (25:20).

The Wolverines are now preparing for the SBVC Invitaional, which will be Oct. 13 at the San Bernardino Soccer Complex.