ANAHEIM, Calif. --- Melissa Ledesma spent the last four seasons racking up the hardware at Esperanza High School and will spend the next four attempting to do the same as a member of the track & field and cross country teams at Biola.
 
She is following in the footsteps of her oldest brother, Danny Ledesma, who ran at Biola for four seasons and qualified for nationals as Biola's best men's runner during his time here.
 
Melissa is currently one of the Aztecs' best female runners, earning team MVP honors, the coaches' award and scholar-athlete recognition across her four seasons of varsity track and three seasons of varsity cross country.
 
"Melissa will be a great fit on the team," said Assistant Coach Collin Christensen. "She is a very selfless individual that cares more about the team than herself. She will be an integral piece for us competitively moving forward."
 
In each of her three seasons running cross country at Esperanza Ledesma led her team to the CIF Southern Section Finals, placing second in 2014. She also led the squad to top-6 state finishes in each of the last two seasons.
 
Individually, Ledesma qualified for the CIF prelims in the 800m. Ledesma will join her cousin, Omar Ledezma, who just committed to the Eagles earlier this week.
 
"Melissa has such a sinceri to her that she already feels like part of the team," said Delanie Eng. "I am thrilled to call Melissa a teammate, and I look forward to running side-by-side with her in the future."
 
While Ledesma will add a lot of athletic skill to Biola's roster, she is likely to also add to the team's overall GPA as she's a fantastic student. She's been a member of the Principal's Honor Roll in each of her four high school years and was an Esperanza High School Distinguished Scholar.

She comes into Biola in fall 2015 with her major currently undecided.
 
"They [women's cross country] are a great group of girls who made me feel very welcome as they showed me around campus," said Ledesma. "I realized that everyone I met along the way was just as friendly and nice as them. The team is filled with many talented people with great personalities and I am excited to become a member of this special group of girls next year."