The Ventura College men's and women's cross country teams continue to shine this fall with both bringing home first place from the Bakersfield Invitational Friday. Adan Cruz won the race on the men's side, completing the 4-mile course in a season-best 21:09 for the 13-second win, while Marissa Gonzales paced the women with a fourth-place finish in the women's race running the 5k trek in 19:29. The Kern County Soccer Park course will be the host for the Western State Conference Championships on October 20.
The Pirate men were taken to the proverbial "wire", winning the meet the narrowest of margins, a 38-39 triumph over host Bakersfield. Seven teams took part in this year's affair while only four teams fielded the requisite number of finishers to score.
Cruz,led the Pirate effort , and he was followed by Jacob Hernandez (3rd, 21:34, 3 team points), Alex Ambriz (9th, 22:15, 8), Juan Martinez (14th, 22:44, 11), Luis Barriga (18th, 23:05, 15), Dan Thow (20th, 23:08, 17), Evan Pederson (21st, 23:15, 18), Ernie Nombrano (24th, 23:28), John Chavez (38th, 25:34), Oscar Rodriguez (40th, 25:58), and Axel Mora (41st, 29:52).
"Bakersfield gave us all we could handle today," commented head men's coach Tony Veney. "This was a good test for us since we come back here October 20th for the WSC Finals, and next time there will be 13 teams vying for the seven SoCal qualifying spots."
The VC women also came in first place, taking five of the top nine places in the team competition. VC totaled 25 points, 12 ahead of second place Oxnard. Six teams participated in the women's race with four fielding enough runners to compete in the team standings.
Gonzales was the top finished for the Pirates, earning two team points for her fourth place finish. She was followed by Tatiana Garcia (5th, 20:08, 3 team points), Fabiola Flores Gomez (6th, 20:24, 4), Cecilia Cano (10th, 22:10, 7), Ashley Valdavinos (12th, 22;25, 9), Allison Hermann (20th, 23:39, 17) and Kiara Estrada (25th, 24:29, 21).
The women ran well in the cool weather today," said women's head coach Melody Axtell. "We had a few personal bests, but still have a lot of work let ahead of us. We are looking forward to next week's WSC preview, and the championship races later in the season."