Former Lehighton standout Cera Gaston recently completed a successful cross country season as a graduate student at Alvernia University.

Gaston placed 57th out of 292 runners in the NCAA Division 3 National Cross Country Championships as Alvernia’s first cross-country national championship qualifier in program history.

Earlier in the season, Gaston was named one of the Alvernia Athletes of the Week for her performances during the week of Oct. 10-16. Gaston took second place in the field of 173 runners at the Aubrey Shenk Invitational at Gettysburg College on Saturday. Gaston finished the 6K course in 22:46.4 to lead Alvernia.

Gaston was also named one of the Alvernia Athletes of the Week for her performances during the week of Sept. 19-25. She finished in 10th place in a field of 285 runners to lead Alvernia at the Lock Haven University Invitational Crimson Race at the Stern Athletic Complex. She broke the University’s 6K record with a time of 21:50.80. That time was good for 10th place overall and second among Division 3 athletes. It was also a new PR for Gaston, bettering her time by over a minute and 30 seconds.