For the first time since 2010, both the men's and women's cross country teams from Ventura College qualified for the CCCAA State Championships held Saturday in Fresno's Woodward Park. Both teams had solid performances with the women coming in 11th overall and the men 14th out of the 28 teams competing. Marissa Gonzales led the women while Nestor Rodriguez paces the Pirate men.
The women's 11th place finish at the state meet was VC's best finish since they came in eighth in 2004. Gonzales finished 51st out of 199 runners for 47 team points in a lifetime best on the Fresno course of 19:42. Rounding out the top seven were Kenna Perez (67th, 20:03, 58), Fabiola Gomez-Flores (95th, 20:38, 82), Macy Schmidt, who was fighting an illness (103rd, 20:48, 88), Veronica Lavin (114th, 20:57, 98), Amanda Wendt (118th, 21:03, 102), and Tati Morales (149th, 21:39, 127).
"This was a solid performance for the young women," commented head coach Tony Veney.
"Looking to improve on their 2:15 first through fifth runner time, (they) shaved it down to an eye opening 1:15."
The men's team also performed well placing the highest since an 11th place finish in 2009. For the third meet in a row, Rodriguez ran in the No. 1 spot placing 57th of 206 runners in 21:28, his best time of the year, for 55 team points. Rounding out the men's finishers were Alex Ambriz (70th, 21:39, 67), Christian Gil (112th, 22:10, 104), David Torres (118th, 22:16, 110), Jesse Vasquez (124th, 22:19, 116), Ernie Nombrano (142nd, 22:31, 131), and Jose Tamayo (155th, 22:41, 143).
"The men ran a solid team race shown by a 50-second one through five time gap, said Veney.
"Now the young people can enjoy a brief respite before getting ready for the upcoming track season!"