The men and women's Pirate cross country teams competed on the Kern County Soccer Park, the home course for Bakersfield College, for the annual Bakersfield Invitational on Friday. VC took the lion's share of the medals producing the men and women's individual champions as well as a thrilling men's team win. Sam Boyle made a decisive move after the first mile to post a 41 second victory leading the men to a thrilling team victory over Bakersfield while Jordyn Vassaur won her second race of the season.
Vassaur continued her fine season breaking away from the field after the first mile for a 29 second victory. She ran the 5k course in 20:39 and was followed by Amanda Wendt (6th, 22:34), Dhanlay Morales (10th, 23:20), Kenna Perez (14th, 24:51) and Sofia Gallardo (18th, 27:03). The team came in second place behind host Bakersfield and ahead of West Hills.
Running as the Pirates No. 1 for the third week, Boyle followed the Vassaur script and made a decisive move after the first mile to post a 41 second victory. His winning time of 21:52 produced the best gap run by the men this season.
Following Boyle, Bakersfield put three runners through before, the Pirate men responded placing Francisco Erazo (5th, 22:41), Jose Tamayo (6th, 23:28), Christian Gil (7th, 23:31), David Torres (8th, 23:34), and Frank Chavez (15th, 24:18) in the finish chute.
The team lead changed every mile and the outcome was still in doubt until the final score was tallied. In the end the Pirates scratched out a slim 27 to 28 win over the host school.
"This was a fine meet for us because the weather (100+ degree heat) downgraded the chances for fast times," commented head coach Tony Veney. "We had some strong competitive efforts from the young people and I loved the fight they had over the late stages of both races."
The Pirates will travel to Oxnard College on Friday Oct. 2 for the Western State Conference Preview. The women's 5k will starts at 11:00am, while the men's 4-mile will go off at 11:45 am.