Kimberly Pena burst onto the women's cross country team in 2019, leading the way for the San Bernardino Valley College women's team from the start as a freshman out of Roosevelt High School in Eastvale.

She won the first-ever Inland Empire Athletic Conference individual championship, destroying the field en route to helping SBVC win the team championship. She earned a trip to the state championships, where she finished 14th, earning All-American honors in the process.

After that amazing freshman year, Pena was bound to attract attention and move on. She made it official recently, signing to run for Sonoma State next fall.

"I am incredibly proud of her," women's cross country coach Eric Abrams said. "This young lady has incredible work ethic. She will forever go down as the very first ever conference champion in any sport in the history of the Inland Empire Athletic Conference. I hope that her journey continues to prosper.

Pena will begin classes in the fall at Sonoma State, about an hour away from her twin sister, who is attending Cal State East Bay.