Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
Lions Post Strong Team Finishes At Central Park Classic
Posted: Sep 19, 2025

Lions Post Strong Team Finishes At Central Park Classic

 

Huntington Beach, CA —  

 

The De Anza College cross country teams turned in impressive performances at Friday's Central Park Classic, with the women finishing 4th out of 15 teams (118 pts) and the men placing 8th out of 21 teams (273 pts) against some of the toughest competition in the state.

 

Complete Results: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/259329/info

 

Women's Highlights

  • Siena Pignataro (So.) led the charge with a stellar 2nd place finish in 19:16.79, continuing her breakout season at the front of the pack.
  • Corinne Thelen (So.) added valuable experience with a 13th place finish in 20:32.68, keeping De Anza's score low against deep fields.
  • Nathaly Bernal (Fr.) ran her strongest race of the season, clocking 21:32, further demonstrating the team's growing depth.
  • With their scoring five packed tightly, the Mountain Lions tallied 118 points, just three shy of Cerritos (115) and four back of East Los Angeles (114). Orange Coast captured the team title with 42 points.

 

Men's Highlights

  • Giovanni Lancellotti (So.) was the top finisher for the Mountain Lions, crossing the line in 33rd place at 22:14.87.
  • Alexander Herrera (Fr.) continued his steady season with another strong race, finishing 58th in 22:57.30 — a solid effort in his third meet of the year.
  • Sebastian Hernandez (Fr.)  turned in a strong improvement, finishing in 24:48 and continuing to build momentum in his rookie campaign.
  • With their balanced scoring group, the men totaled 273 points to secure 8th place overall in a field of 21 schools.

 

Coach's Quotes

"We showed today that we can compete with some of the strongest programs in the state," said De Anza College head coach Andy Ponce de Leon.

"Siena and Corinne gave us big points up front, but what excites me most is seeing athletes like Nathaly and Sebastian step up and keep improving. It's easy for headlines to go to the front-runners, but our success as a program depends on progress throughout the roster — and today showed we're moving in the right direction."