Coast, Big 8, Golden Valley, Orange Empire and South Coast crown cross country champions
CROSS COUNTRY CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDUP (Oct. 25-27)
Coast Conference Results
Big 8 Conference Results
Golden Valley Conference Results
Orange Empire Conference Results
South Coast Conference Results
SANTA ROSA WOMEN, AMERICAN RIVER MEN CAPTURE BIG 8 TITLES
SANTA ROSA - The Santa Rosa Junior College women's cross country team competed at the Big 8 Conference Championships last week at Spring Lake Park in Santa Rosa. Coming into the meet the SRJC women were ranked No. 2 in the conference and 8th in the NorCal.
The Bear Cubs looked to make their mark in the championship race. After an aggressive start, Alexandra Van Holt moved to the lead early with Elisa Quintero Cantu and Madi Monroe close behind. Through the first mile it looked tight with Van Holt in the lead but Diablo Valley College putting five ahead of of Santa Rosa's top four. At Mile 2, things changed again with Kayla Carreno and Addie Waterman moving ahead of DVC’s fifth runner.
These two spots proved to be the deciding in the tiebreaker that ensued when both Santa Rosa and DVC finished the race with a total of 44 points. The NCAA rule states that a tie is broken by scoring the top five finishers one-to-one. The Bear Cubs came out on top with the tie breaker by a margin of 3-2.
American River scored 36 points to capture the men's banner, capitalizing on an individual win from Mateo Delgadillo in 19:40.9 over the four-mile course. Daniel Gonzales (San Joaquin Delta) was second in 20:06.1 while Johnny Sandoval, also of Delta, was third in 20:12.1. San Joaquin Delta was second in the team standings with 53 points while Modesto took third with 83.
(David Wellman, Santa Rosa)
MT. SAN ANTONIO REPEATS AS SOUTH COAST MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CHAMPIONS
MEN
HARBOR CITY - Mt. San Antonio College's dominance in the sport of cross country was never more evident than in winning its 10th consecutive South Coast Conference Men's Cross Country Championship on Friday at Ken Malloy Regional Park in Harbor City. The Mounties saw a conference record 12 runners occupy the top 14 placings.
Mountie freshman Aidan Gomez won the individual race title with a time of 20 minutes, 58.3 seconds over the 4-mile course. It was the program's 24th SCC championship in its history and the eighth straight time a Mt. SAC runner was individual champion.
One streak did end for Mt. SAC as El Camino's Aaron Cohen placed third (21:05.2) which ended a 2-year stretch of the Mounties having the top four finishers.
The roll call for Mt. SAC on the All-SCC First Team included race runner-up Joel Fischer (21:02.6), Louis Torres, fourth, 21:09.1, Christian De Loye, fifth, 21:14.6, Andrew Villeda, sixth, 21:16.1, and Jordan Berkley, seventh, 21:20.3. The Second Team Mounties were Jonathan Aguilar, eighth, 21:24, Jude Enriquez, ninth, 21:24.4, Noah Chairez, 10th, 21:31.9, Landen Brecker, 11th, 21:35.4, Michael Ortiz, 13th, 21:55.6, and Logan Berkley, 14th, 21:57.9. El Camino's Alan Canales grabbed All-SCC Second Team in 12th at 21:39.4.
The strength of Mt. SAC's freshmen class was exemplified as Aguilar and Breckner were third and fourth, respectively, at last year's SCC meet, but were relegated to Second Team this season.
Final SCC Standings: 1. Mt. San Antonio 18, 2. El Camino 58, 3. Cerritos 66, 4. Long Beach City 115, 5. Pasadena City 159, 6. LA Harbor 175, 7. East Los Angeles 183, 8. Compton 257.
Cerritos top racer was Joshua Melendez, who just missed making Second Team in 15th (22:00.4). Long Beach's Leonardo Acevedo scored 27th (22:45.8) for the Vikings fastest finish. LA Harbor's Trent Osburn finished 39th (23:35.9) to top Seahawks harriers while Pasadena was paced by Youssef Cherqaoui in 44th (23:56.4). East LA's Sonny Rodriguez (47th, 24:10.1) and Compton's Malvin Payero (88th, 29:13.3) were also their schools' best.
Ninety-nine total runners participated in the race with 24 Mt. SAC racers placing in the top 50.
El Camino's Teddy Kassa continues to be the answer to the trivia question: When was the last time a non-Mt. SAC runner won the SCC race? Year: 2014.
Mt. SAC is the defending 3C2A state champions and will race along with other SCC qualified teams in the SoCal Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 3 at Long Beach's El Dorado East Regional Park.
(Robert Lewis, SCC Sports Information)
WOMEN
HARBOR CITY - Mt. San Antonio won its third straight SCC championship on Friday (photo by Richard Quinton).
Five different schools were represented on First Team led by Mt. San Antonio College's Aariana Amezcua first-place finish as the Mounties won their consecutive South Coast Conference Women's Cross Country Championship race on Friday morning. The Mounties scored 29 points to win the SCC meet held at Ken Malloy Regional Park in Harbor City.
The freshman Amezcua ran a time of 18 minutes, 14.5 seconds over the 3-mile course and was aided by Ingrid Tamayo's fifth place (19:06.4) and six other Mt. SAC runners who all finished in the top 14. Five scoring Mounties ran less than 20 minutes out of 10 that accomplished that feat.
It was Mt. SAC's 21st SCC women's cross country title.
More of a story was the variety of the All-SCC First Team (first seven finishers) as El Camino's Sequoia Gonzales placed second (18:20.6), East Los Angeles' Marbella Flores was third (18:23.5), Cerritos' Megan Feitz scored sixth (19:08.6) and LA Harbor's Sherlyn Gomez crossed the line in seventh (19:10.1).
ECC's Ami Jacobson was the other First Teamer in racing fourth (18:49.7). Gonzales was the SCC runner-up for the second straight season and a 2-time, All-SCC First Team selection along with Jacobsen (fifth last year) and Feitz (also sixth in 2022).
Final SCC Team Placings/Points: 1. Mt. San Antonio 29, 2. Cerritos, 59, 3. El Camino 80, 4. LA Harbor 113, 5. Long Beach City 122, 6. Pasadena City 141.
Long Beach's top scorer was Lorena Galaviz in 27th (22:05.2), Pasadena's Kayla Ma topped her team in 35th (23:02.4), while Compton was paced by Ryann Crawford in 50th (27:45) out of the 57 total participants.
(Aarianna Amezcua)
HARTNELL WOMEN, CHABOT MEN VICTORIOUS IN COAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
CARMEL VALLEY - On a beautiful Wednesday morning on Oct. 25 in Carmel Valley, four new champions were christened at the 2023 Coast Conference Championship. Running over the excellently designed decomposed granite loops at the Palo Corona Cross Country Course for the first time in conference history, the Chabot College men, Hartnell College women, Antoine Moret of De Anza College, and Andrea Villegas of Hartnell College were all victorious.
In the women's championship 5k, Villegas and teammate Roselyn Olivo jumped out to an early lead in the first 2k loop with Jacklyn Velazquez of De Anza College and Nelly Isidro of Monterey Peninsula College in pursuit. At the first split, the pair had an 11-second advantage. Savannah Maselli of Chabot College followed in fifth place overall, the only other runner in the field under 8 minutes at the 2k mark. The team score at the first split had Hartnell leading at 24 points with Monterey Peninsula College in second at 46 points.
Villegas would move away from her teammate Olivo over the final 2k to win in 19:18. Over the final 2k of the course, Velazquez would close quickly and nearly pass Olivo for runner-up honors with the pair both timed at 19:55. Isidro and Maselli maintained their positions in fourth and fifth at 20:46 and 21:02. Maselli advances to next week's Norcal Championship as an individual. Hartnell would be victorious with the help of Jimena Hernandez in seventh (21:50), Alexandra Campos (22:00) in eighth, and Maria Hernandez (22:18) in tenth to give the Panthers just 25 points. Monterey Peninsula College would get second place with 45 points with Alana Gamino in ninth, Kanon Shell in eleventh, Isabela Arreola in 12th, and Gyzelle McFarland in thirteenth. De Anza College was third with 73 points.
In the men's race, the Chabot College Gladiators won their first-ever team title in cross country holding of De Anza College by four points 37 to 41. Chabot had five runners in the top 12 with De Anza College at an almost near identical five in the top 15. De Anza College did have Antoine Moret win the individual title in 20:28 over the four mile course, nearly eclipsing the course record of 20:26.
Moret pressed the pace from the gun and his advantage grew to 14 seconds over Hartnell College's Moises Benito at the finish line. Chabot College had Daniel Trampe in third (20:55) and Dylan Baptista in fifth (21:20). Hartnell freshman Elijah Melchor was fourth (21:15) to be next year's top returner. Caleb Bouwens (21:50) in ninth and Bryan Lopez Cruz (21:56) both picked up All-Conference honors for Monterey Peninsula College.
(Chris Zepeda, Hartnell College)